UBB.threads PHP Forum Software Community Forums Resources and Customizing How Do I? Correct way to handle mysql backups?

Just wanted to verify that I am handling my backups correctly and not making any mistakes:

1. First I log in as root and do a mysql dump this way:
mysqldump --opt my_ubb -u message_boards -p > ../home/boards/dump.sql

Is there any command or anything I should be adding to create a "better dump" (did that sound bad? ) or maybe remove something?

2. Then I compress the file:
cd /home/boards/
tar -zcvf dump.tgz dump.sql

Anything I should be changing here, maybe using a different compression command altogether or a different extension?

3. Downloading the file:
Using ftp and downloading as a BINARY file. It should be Binary, right?