Each of the stories that follow is absolutely factual.

• When their clothes dryer blew up, the young couple escaped with her cell phone, their toddler son, and one shoe. The house was incinerated in fifteen minutes. She was supporting the family with her home-based business while her husband looked for work. Her business computer was now part of the ashes and rubble that had been their home.
• A talented and creative freelance writer and curriculum developer had no time to grab her computer when she and her husband had to evacuate their house during Southern Californias wildfire season. All her current and past projects were lost.
• Leaving her laboratory office after a long day working on a grant proposal, the neurobiologist had no idea that when she returned the next morning to review and submit the proposal due that day her computer would refuse to boot up. Fortunately, the problem was not the hard drive; even more fortunately, the proposal had been sent to the universitys finance department for review, and was submitted on time.

People admit, albeit reluctantly, that yes, they should back up their computers more often or even at all! Despite my dislike of the word should, I completely agree. We really, really should back up our computers, on a planned and regular basis!

So, what keeps us from doing so? There are three primary reasons.

1. We may be unaware of how many treasures financial and medical records, digital images of family and friends, emails from college-student sons and daughters and, yes, those all-important business records! are stored on the hard drive whose reliability we take for granted.
2. We dont like to think about unpleasant possibilities, especially when theres no way to prevent such surprises. The young couple whose clothes dryer blew up certainly never dreamed that their house would or even could! burn to the ground that quickly.
3. Many people are confused and baffled by what to do and how to do it. Even for those who are technically proficient, creating a personal backup and disaster recovery plan ranks only slighly higher than cleaning the bathroom; for the many who find technology confusing and scary, cleaning the bathroom starts looking downright fun compared to figuring out a backup plan!

1. If you were to lose everything on your computer tomorrow, what would it mean to you?
2. Is there crucial business, medical, and/or financial information on your computer?
3. Do you know where your software CDs and license keys are?

Whatever you do please take the time to do something. For your own sake and for the sake of your family, who need the history and the memories that are stored so tenuously on your computer, take the time to define and implement a backup and disaster recovery plan. Youll be glad you did!