how robust are custom dumps?

Hi,

Some 6 years ago, i had a bad experience with a custom dump. It wouldn't
restore and my data was lost.
I was a beginner then, and working under windows, and i wasn't on the
mailing list yet.
It was no critical data, we could build the database again, which was then
easier than figuring out what exactly went wrong with the backup.

Since then i have refused to trust custom dumps.
But they do provide some very nice functionality, like restoring a single
table.

So my question is: what is your advice on custom dumps? Can i bet my life
on them?

Cheers,

WBL

--
"Quality comes from focus and clarity of purpose" -- Mark Shuttleworth