You Heard It Here

Someday your Valentine’s hard drive will crash. Show them you love them by putting in place a backup plan:

1) Buy an external USB hard drive. Portable storage is cheap and backing up to an external hard drive takes seconds. Most come with programs that automate the process for you. Newer versions of Windows offer built-in backup software, but I like the free Karen’s Replicator.

2) Figure out what’s irreplaceable and back it up often, at least weekly. I’m talking about documents, digital photos, tax records, emails, etc. You don’t have to back up your entire hard drive since programs and music files can be reinstalled and replaced, either free or for a price.

3) Don’t store your only copy of something on an external drive. If your computer’s low on hard drive space and you’re tempted to move photos and videos to an external drive, that’s fine, but be sure that drive is backed up by another drive. You always want at least two copies of the stuff you’d hate to lose. Which brings us to a great option…

4) Consider a virtual hard drive. Online backup services have gotten cheaper, easier to use, and more secure. Services like Mozy and Carbonite have been rated well and give you unlimited, off-site storage for just a few bucks a month.

(Sure, buying an external hard drive for your sweetheart may not be her idea of romance, but it could fall under the definition of “choreplay“.)