It would be helpful to know which version of HiPath 4000 (v2, v3,v4, v5,?) and which model (4300, 4500, 4000) you are working with.
I do not disagree with DonB, but none of the backups that he mentioned are bootable; therefore if your hard drive fails, a hard drive recovery will be necessary before those backups can be used.
As DonB states, a full array of backups is recommended, but you MUST include the HDMO backup. This used to be a backup from HD to MO, but when the MO was replaced by the CF card in V4, the name was not changed. So technically it is a HDCF backup. From Assistant > Software Management > Backup & Restore, select PDS/GLA (I'm writing this from memory, so forgive me if the link is not exact). Before beginning the HDMO, place a new CF card into the CF drive. In the PDS/GLA area, select HDMO, and start the backup. Label the CF card as "HDMO" and date it, then put it in a safe place - it could save you one day. Do this at least once per month. Do NOT leave this CF card in the CF drive. Do as DonB suggests: leave a Unix-based CF card in the CF drive for scheduled "DATA" backups. The backups that DonB has described are useful, and should be run, but they are of a different format (Unix versus RMX for the HDMO). Therefore if you leave the HDMO CF in the CF drive, it may be re-formatted and overwritten by scheduled backups. The HDMO CF card may be used to reboot the system if the hard drive fails. It will also contain the switch database from the day that the HDMO was created. So if lots of MAC is performed, you might want to perform the HDMO backup even more frequently. However, if you need to boot from the HDMO some day, even if it is outdated, after the system loads you can restore the database to the level of the most recent DATA backup. Of course you would need to call for technical assistance if your hard drive fails, but the HDMO and a current DATA backup could get your system back up and running quickly in spite of the hard drive failure.