awesome, awesome, awesome post!
back it up - never rely on anyone else to protect your work. it's your work, thus it's your responsibility!
i love developing on Sim-on-a-Stick because i quickly do an OAR save while i shut it down and i also create an SoaS for each project i am currently working on (including two on my day job PC being developed for corporate use)
then once i am done, i put it wherever - that is Kitely now and their backups are easy to do as Maria indicated above
i do backups of Enclave Harbour on Kitely regularly and save those to my home machine, an external HD, and a USB stick
if take the time and energy to build a region, then take the time to save it =)
thanks Maria!