No arguements from me here Hal. Just a slight wrinkle if I may. Here, my perspective is strictly on the average users who don't even want to so much as open their own CPUs and just want their computers to go.
As with most systems average users buy, their computer will come shipped with Win98 and other essential programs on CD for backup purposes. It's like that for us. So, in practice, one could probably get by with simply a ZIP drive that holds anything else we want but not found on these CDs.
Also, we have three computers in our house. Rather than, say, having 3 backup systems or methods, we would simply have one external ZIP drive with one appropriate ZIP disk that we can just walk around, plug in, and recover if one system dies.
With a hard drive, someone would have to crack open their CPU and install it, though I admit the BIOS chips today makes detection so painless it's practically a no-brainer. Backing up on your hard drive also does not guarantee protection against viruses, and can be a pain to locate with problems with either your boot sector or partitioning. But I admit, I've only experienced those kinds of problems when I tried to install Linux.
But that is not to say I disagree with you now. I have two physical drives on my PC, and even as we speak, I have my OS on my C: drive while my back up programs not found on my CDs are zipped up and neatly tucked away in my D: drive.
And one more thing. I found an incredible copy of Linux called Linux-Mandrake 6.0 from Macmillan Publishing. It's not Mandrake's Linux(!), but a version of Mandrake from Macmillan Publishing. What's so significant about this? It includes a special version of PartitionMagic and BootMagic. If somebody is starting out with Linux and wants to install one, I think this version is as painless as it gets. Of course, it's moot if you already have the full version of Partitionmagic. Not surprisingly, I've encountered problems but it's on the hardware end. Macmillan's Linux-Mandrake works like a charm for me. And you know what's weird about this particular version? LILO will boot my Win98 (with the curse of FAT32) on this one.
Another version I don't hear a lot about but thinks it should is DragonLinux. It is UMSDOS version that can be installed quite nicely on FAT32 partitions. It's a relatively small install of only 20mbs and obviously you'll only get to play with a shell prompt at first, but I think it's a terrific way for experienced users to learn BASH and basic administrative commands. And if it doesn't work out, just delete it like any other DOS or windows file and folder. Not intended for serious use of course, but a great way to learn without commiting yourself.
I have to go. My wife is hungry and I have to go hunt down some grub. Unga bunga.