by Rita Chaney

Created on: April 12, 2008   Last Updated: April 18, 2008

Backing up your computer data is not just something you ought to do someday-it's a task to do on the first or second day of owning your computer. In essence, it is an absolute must-a requirement. Although few people think about losing computer data forever, the reality is it can and does happen every day.

-Problems with Not Backing Up
Think for a minute about what kind of information your computer holds. For most, the list is vast and varied. Lengthy documents for work, multiple updates of your resume, perhaps an inventory of all the furniture you own. Most likely, you have your personal financial information in some form on your computer. Music, audio books, and pod casts that have been loaded on MP3 players are other common types of data stored on computers.

But for many people, the virtual mother lode of important computer stash is pictures and video images. The vast majority of people who store those images on their computers do not make hard copies of them. Therefore, those precious images of you, your friends, and family members could disappear forever. Your wedding, the birth of your child, baby's first steps, finishing your first triathlon-the images of all those events in your life that cannot be duplicated could be gone in a second. And the really scary fact is they may be unable to be recovered or ever seen again.

-How Data Loss Occurs
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce and Pepperdine University's David M. Smith, Ph. D., data loss occurs in the following ways:

1-Hardware failure. A computer crash, for example, can occur without warning. Also, computer malfunction can cause problems. In either case, you are unable to access your data. Some or all of your information could be lost through these events.

2-Human error. People make mistakes. Perhaps, you are carrying your laptop, and you drop it. Or, you are working with something heavy above your computer and it falls from your hands, damaging the computer. Such mistakes can destroy precious data.

3-Software corruption. Receiving an error message that says a file is corrupt or cannot be accessed means data may be lost. After all, glitches do happen.

4-Computer viruses. Viruses can cause great damage to computers that results in loss of valuable information.

5-Theft. Burglaries, laptops left in vehicles, and break-ins can all result in the theft of computers. In those situations, you would lose all your data.

6-Hardware destruction. For example, think natural disasters-tornadoes, hurricanes, and rain

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