Backup Your Computer Data to Avoid Losing Pictures, Music, Documents

The most important piece of advice I can give to a computer user is to back up your data.  All of your files (documents, music, pictures, email) are stored on a hard drive inside of your computer.  These hard drives fail on a regular basis.  They contain moving parts, run very hot and are mass produced overseas with little or no quality control. 

I average about a dozen calls per month from people whose hard drives failed and they want to know if I can get their data back.  About 50 percent of the people are lucky and get their data back, the other 50 percent would have to send their drive out to a recovery specialist who will dissect the drive in their clean room in an attempt to recover the data.  This clean room recovery process can cost thousands of dollars!  You can find an online backup service for around $50 per year.

Make sure you start backing up your data immediately so you don’t have to have that family meeting to decide if all of the pictures on your computer are worth spending thousands of dollars to recover.