mysqldump vs MySQLHotcopy vs MySQLDumper

This has been posted more than once on vb.com

From the link about MySQLHotCopy:

My goal is to have a cron job that makes a backup of the database, and another cron job that sends it to another hosting account (or somewhere on the web). It appears MySQLDumper will do that, but of course that is another piece of software to keep up to date and occasionally test.

Right now I'm using mysqldump in a cron job to only make a database backup and am not sending it elsewhere.


What are the advantages & disadvantages of the 3 methods for a 300MB database? Any input from those who have used & tested at least 2 of these methods?