[sjk]

Just a brief followup about this:

Originally Posted by Sophie

At the prices for a UPS rated long enough to let unaccompanied backup jobs complete,

It's wouldn't be necessary to have a UPS with that much battery reserve, just enough to keep a system running long enough to do a clean manual or automatic shutdown before completely losing power.

I'd much rather have controlled shutdowns than abrupt, uncontrolled ones interrupting backups (and other system activity) in progress.

Also:

… I really do not want to put multiple big, expensive, and ugly UPS boxes throughout my home …

That almost sounds like you're living in a mansion.

I'm curious how many non-portable Macs you have and their models. Are they sleeping or fully shutdown when not in use? Even if having UPS for all of them is impractical maybe it's a justifiable benefit for some of them?

If I had an iMac in the kitchen, for example, I'd limit the amount/type of data on it requiring a backup regardless if it used a UPS (and likely only used if it could be installed non-intrusively). Or, I'd consider using a portable Mac there instead and have the benefit of its battery kicking in during power outages.

This discussion can end if you're set against using any UPS. If you're open to the possibility then people may be able to help you find an acceptable usage strategy within your environment and specific limitations. However, that would stretch the topic beyond being SuperDuper!-related and could make it inappropriate for public discussion here.