Do you have a back up system in place? How often do you back up your important data? Could you reconstruct those important pieces if your computer was NOT backed up? How much time would it take?

> Backup, Backup, BACKUP! That's what I am stressing today. My laptop
> greeted me with an annoying and PERSISTENT crash today and while I have MOST
> of the information backed up (emphasis on MOST), you never can tell WHEN it
> will happen.

This is the start of an email from my partner. It reminded me that backing up is easy but most of us procrastinate and don't do it as often as we need

So do you have a back up system in place?

Long ago floppies were the easiest way to back up. Files were small and you could fit multiple files on one floppy. That's not true anymore. I used to back up to CDRs. If I back up my User folder now I need at least one DVD and at times more than one (depends on what projects I'm working on).

There are several options available for Mac users when it comes to backing up. You may use more than one of them.

1. Burn a CD using either the internal CDRW built into all new Macs or get a small inexpensive DVD burner to attach externally to an older Mac.

2. If you are lucky enough to have a Mac with a SuperDrive or have an external DVD burner burn a DVD with ALL your data on it.

3. Use a program that is dedicated to the backing up process to make it easier and more routine for you. Retrospect and the Backup program that comes with .mac are two that come to mind. They still require that you have a place to back up to but you can set either one up to back up when you are away from your computer.

4. Backup to an internet service. BackJack (www.backjack.com) is an Mac internet backup service that is relatively inexpensive and gives you enough space to back up those most important files. There is also an offsite backup option included in .mac.

One thing to think about is not storing those all important backup files in the same place as your computer. If you have a fire, not just the computer will burn up. If this is what is holding you back from backing up your computer, worry about it AFTER you have made a habit of backing up ; )

This is what I do:

I back up my financial data on www.backjack.com. It is an encrypted service that can be set up to back up on a schedule. I burn projects to CDs as I'm working on them so I have another copy just in case. Once a month I burn a DVD of my User's folder. I keep the DVD in my truck. Even if its in the driveway, its not in the house! I also back up some data to my iDisk on .mac.

I have an external firewire drive that I use to back up my internal hard drive to on a regular basis, usually every week. I keep that in my fireproof safe in my house.

I want to let you know what happened with my partner. I managed to back up all his data, I hope. Now his iBook is awaiting a box from Apple to go have its hard drive replaced. Don't get me started on the value of AppleCare ; )

I wrote this several years ago. Since then I have seen multiple customers lose their data because their hard drive died, sometimes within days of replacing it. Every hard drive comes with a MTF rating, but its an average and for every hard drive that lasts more years than the computer it was originally used with there are others that barely make it out of the box. Please figure out how, not when, you are going to back up your data.