Don't stick your head in the sand and think that data loss won't happen to you. It can happen to anyone at anytime. I know, it has happened to many of my clients. Some have been in tears. I have helped some reconstruct hours of work from paper records. And some have been able to breathe easily in the knowledge that all their precious data is safely stored away from the computer and can be reinstated. These people weren't "the lucky" ones, they were the ones who realised that a few minutes work spent making sure their data was safe could potentially save them hours of work and heartache.

Too many people simply can't be bothered to back up the data on their computer. They think that data loss only happens to other people. It doesn't. My clients are real people and many of them have lost some or all of their computer files in a myriad of ways.

* Their computer has been stolen. This even happened to one of my clients while the computer was at the repair shop. The shop was burgled. If this happened to you, would you at least know that your data was safe?

* Your computer's hard drive could fail. This happened to my previous laptop. I always keep a copy of important data on my pc as well.

* A power surge could destroy your computer's motherboard. This happened to an organisation I was working for on an occasional basis last year. Fortunately for all I kept regular backups of every single document, email, photo and invoice. They had the hassle of buying a new computer, reinstalling the software and broadband, but at least their data was safe. I breathed a sigh of relief and resolved to remain diligant about backing up.

* When the floods hit in the summer of 2007 several of my clients were flooded out of offices and homes. If this happened to you and your computer was lost, would you know that your data was safely backed up, away from the danger of flooding?

What do I mean by backup? I mean having at least one copy (and preferably two or more) of all your documents, emails and photos stored in a location other than a hard drive inside your computer. This can be an external hard drive, another computer, a CD/DVD a memory stick, an online backup or a simple printout.

If you are running a business it is sensible to have a backup copy that is stored away from your office. Take a CD/DVD/memory stick home with you, or use an online backup service.

You can find more information on how to protect yourself against losing your computer data at http://www.it-teacher.co.uk/Importance_of_Backups.html