I have all the menus and links working in the 'live site', although most of it was done quick-and-dirty. I've also made 2 copies on my local disk, one mirroring the active site, and one that I am actively editing.

Yeah, I've also been down that road you mentioned, although not with web development. In that case it was a total nightmare - our data center never checked backup tapes, and naturally they were corrupt. And we're talking about a Fortune 100 company.... who will remain nameless.