Whether or not to back up computer files is not a question that even needs to be asked as we all need backups. You need a backup to protect you from what will happen! Your hard drive will die, you will get a virus, or you will just delete some important file by mistake.

I give lots of talks and when I ask someone when was the last time they backed up their files, I always get, "Hmm... let me think about that."  Ask yourself when you backed yours up last. Yesterday, last week, last month, never? Why don't you back up? Is it too hard? Is your reason "I just don't think about it"? Are you lazy? I believe it's because no one taught you to back up! So, here you go — my top five reasons to back up your computer.

1. Back up because it protects you.
2. Back up because it saves you time.
3. Back up because you have data you cannot replace.
4. Back up because you have photos you cannot replace.
5. Back up because it will save you MONEY.

Not having a backup will cost you lots of money and time — just think about the cost of going to a computer shop and having them rebuild your computer from scratch. What do they get an hour — $100? $150 or more? How many hours would it take to rebuild your computer — three hours? Six? Eight? Do you have the original disks? Some people faced with this decision just buy a new computer as it's cheaper than the labor charge, but what about the software and data you've lost? You need to have a backup process and run it regularly.

Now that I explained why it's important to back up, let's talk about what you can do. My solution has two steps.

Step 1. Make an image copy of your computer. This means make a full copy of your computer so if you have a major issue you can rebuild your computer quickly (great for hard drive failure). There are other solutions out there — I'm just showing you one that you could use.

Article Author: jtferron

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