A long, long time ago, I was working in Windows 3.1.  I was using a program called CorelDraw. (I still use it!)  In CorelDraw you can create vector projects.  (The explanation of that will be for another blog in the future.)  I was just learning the program so the project was going slowly.  I was about 14 hours into my work when the unthinkable happened – my computer’s hard drive crashed! 

In those days, there was no system restore.  If your computer crashed, you had to reinstall the operating system from scratch.  Although I had been saving my CorelDraw work as I went along, I was saving to the computer’s hard drive.  There were no USB Flash drives then, just floppy disks.  Unfortunately, I hadn’t saved my work on one of those.  So, when my computer crashed, 14 hours of work went down the drain. I had forgotten the number one rule about hard drives: ALL HARD DRIVES CRASH! As I like to teach, the question is NOT “What do I do IF my hard drive crashes?” but rather, “What do I do WHEN my hard drive crashes?”

I never got the project exactly the same as it had been.  On that very day, I promised myself that would never happen again.  From that time forward, I created backup copies of all of my documents, pictures and projects.  I used floppy disks, then I went to CD and eventually to USB Flash Drives and external drives.

Still there was a problem – floppy disks went bad, CDs got scratched and external drives crashed, too.  Eventually, I knew that online backup was the only way to go.  For years now, I have used only online backup – on every one of my computers.  Whatever the yearly cost, it’s worth it in spades.

If you have no online backup on your computer, I strongly urge you to get it today.  We use and recommend Carbonite and you can click the banner below to sign up.  Don’t allow important documents, pictures, videos, etc., to ever be lost.