There are many ways to go about backing up your Mac hard drive locally. In another article I'll go over how to do this from within OSX using Disk Utility. However, there is something to be said for well designed applications that simplify the steps needed into a few clicks for both Backups and Restore.
I tend to go back and forth between Carbon Copy Cloner and Super Duper. Both of these programs are just as good. They both support incremental and bootable backups. So what's the difference? Mainly the price. Carbon Copy Cloner is Free, but they accept donations. Super Duper will allow you to make free full disk backups, but the full registered version costs $27.95.