Over the past nine months, I have talked with multiple customers who have experienced hard drive crashes or lost data due to viruses. We recommend that you take some precautions to avoid catastrophic data loss due to this type of problem with your computer. Consider all of the documents you maintain, emails you send and receive, data files from other programs and the various applications you have installed on your system. When you're computer crashes you need to re-install your programs and restore your data. You have two main options for backing up your data.
1. Use an external hard drive with software on your computer that automatically backs up your entire system on a regular basis, either daily or at least once a week. You can buy 100+ GB external hard drives for under $100. You need to make sure your computer can connect to either a USB or Firewire drive and purchase the correct drive.
There are a variety of software programs for handling backups. We use Acronis True Image (http://www.acronis.com/) which can create an exact snapshot of your computer. Then if your computer crashes, you can restore the backup and your computer is exactly as it was before the crash. I actually had this happen last September and was able to get my computer up and running in a few hours without losing anything.
You may also want to invest in a fireproof safe and keep the external hard drive in the safe when not being used.
2. Use an online backup service. This is generally used for data backups vs. your complete computer. We've used Carbonite (http://www.carbonite.com/) which is about $55/year. Here is an article that reviews a number of other services: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2288745,00.asp
Whatever method you choose, you should definately be backing up your computers on a regular basis. You don't realize how much information you use daily until it is gone and you are paying to have a company restore your hard drive and wasting precious time waiting for your information.
