How we to Back Up our Computer Files?

Many of us have lived through the following scenario:

You go to your computer, press the power button, and nothing happens. Or the blue screen of death shows up. You think "Dang Microsoft, must be a glitch. I'll just restart". Then you make sure the device is plugged in and restart. Again, nothing

. About now you are starting to get panicked and thinking "what happened to my work files, my kid's birthday pictures, my music??? Oh no, I never backed anything up!!"

And in an instant, all your hard work and captured memories are gone, never to be returned. Money and personal memories down the drain. If you've never had it happen to you, consider yourself lucky. If you have (like me) then you've lived the scenario above and probably done something about it.

So...you want to know how to back up your computer so you don't lose everything. You have two choices - a hard drive backup onto an external storage device, or an online backup onto a website that either you or someone else manages.

If you elect to use a hard drive backup, go to Best Buy (or Walmart, or Target, doesn't matter) and buy an external hard drive. Most of these are about $50-$150, depending on the size you pick. Something in the 500GB range should be sufficient, unless you are a photographer or someone that stores a ton of large files. Take the external drive home, plug it in via USB, and copy your computer's files over to your new hard disk. You will have to remember to regularly back up your computer or you risk losing new files you created from the time you last backed up.

Often, saving files online is a better option. There are storage websites that specialize in storing huge amounts of data securely for minimal monthly cost. Often these have a free trial version so you can test it out before you buy. It works like this: You sign up with a file storage service, download a piece of their software onto your desktop, and copy the files from your desktop to the website. One huge advantage to services like these are that you can schedule automatic computer backups that you don't have to think about - you simple schedule them and let the software do its thing. And it is cheap - often less than $15 a month.

Either way - through manually backing up your files onto an external hard disk or backing them up online - make sure you back up your files so you don't lose your precious work, photos, or other electronic items on your computer.