Backing Up

[IriDium]

For ease of re-installation, an image is better but you would loose any updates that occurred since the last image.

Coping the /xbian/home directory only saves what has been made there, not any changes at a system level.

With btrfs on Beta 1.1 there are other options. Restoring to a particular snapshot etc. but they are useless if the SD card is unreadable.

However, for a fail safe option, a full copy of your SD card is, IMHO, the best option (but do it twice and try a restore first to prove it works)

I would also look at "Boot on USB" and "USB installations" topics on this Website as a USB installations seems to be more stable.