We've all heard stories of computers that have crashed and people loosing all their data. You momentarily feel sorry and think "gosh, glad that wasn't me."

But in the last six months two colleagues that I've worked closely with off an on both lost their computer systems. I've heard more about of the pain and work involved trying to recreate their professional lives.

Knowing all that I am is on my laptop, I asked a friend what type of back up system I should use. He knows me pretty well - i.e. I'm not real computer comfortable, he did some research and recommended Maxtor One touch. The Maxtor mini is available in 80, 120 and 160 GB and was readily available in stores and on line.

Get this: even I was able to figure it out. Super simple. So now once a week I push one button.

Okay, so I see my friend at church and he asks me how it's working and I say "It's as easy as one touch."

hahahahaha

And he says "well, we won't really know how well it works until your computer crashes."

TAKE THE WIND OUT OF MY sails.

But he's right.

So now I appeal to you - what system(s) do you use to back up your data? What experience have you had with computer crashes - any advice?

Deborah Chaddock Brown
Writer, Not Quite So Confident As I Was
AllWrite Ink