Time Machine may be renowned as the first backup utility built into Mac OS X, but the truth is that power users have enjoyed built-in backups for years,
thanks to a command-line utility called Rsync. To create a backup of your home folder on your network drive using Rsync, make sure the drive is mounted, and then launch the Terminal (Applications > Utilities). At the command line, type

rsync -aE --progress ~ /Volumes/name-of-network-drive/name-of-backup-folder

and change the text after the last two slashes to the name of your network volume and the name of the network folder where you want the backup saved, respectively. Press Enter, and Rsync will perform the backup, displaying its progress as it completes.

To learn more about Rsync, pull up its manual page in the Terminal by typing

man rsync

and pressing Enter.