I do my backup through a revolutionary system called MS-DOS xcopy batch commands :) . Please don't go to sleep or leave the room all at once. I like the free, black-screen method of selectively updating and synchronizing files from one device to another. Works like a charm between local devices.
The perpetual problem is backing up between locations. For 15 years my portable (laptop) devices have acted as the daily courier between parallel folder structures at home and office. The now-defunct Windows Live Sync also helped within its limitations.
VPN, I assume, would allow me to map an internet-connected location and do the xcopy between that location and local devices. I have the necessary VPN-enabled routers -- and fiber optiic directly to my house -- and I am ready to go there if I am forced to do so.
But -- whenever I come across a handy internet syncronization service like Microsoft Skydrive, Norton Zone, or GoToMyPC -- and I have all of 'em - I pine for a drive mapping function. Try to map the local path to Skydrive or Zone and you get the (buzzer) and error message "Sorry, can't map that location" or similar message. GoToMyPC will syncronize astonishingly huge folder locations but not selectively (think of the Xcopy switches /s /d /y /date: /exclude:)
Other than purchasing someone's expensive software that proves to be a poor emulation of Xcopy, is there any hope?