BuddyPress.org

Reading in several posts in the forums that backups should be made daily, I was wondering:

1) apart from the db and wp-content, what other files need to be backed up (i.e. are different from a fresh install) All my buddypress install files are in wp-content. Does buddypress create/modify any files outside this directory?

2) What is the best way to automate the backup. I have been trying to do this manually on a daily basis but I do not have a very fast internet connection and it takes me forever to goto cpanel, download the db backup, log in via ftp and download the wp-content folder.

Thanks.