Backing Up to Move Forward

I spent part of this morning writing a client e-mail newsletter that focused on the importance of backing up your data on a regular basis. The necessity of backing up our work, files and financial info (not to mention recent music downloads) is certainly not news, but how seriously do we really take it? What would happen to you if everything on your hard drive(s) was suddenly and unexpectedly gone?

I mean seriously gone.

While I am religious about backing up my QuickBooks files, I am less committed to regular data backups. And since what I sell is my time and what I create using my computer (as opposed to using the computer to keep track of what I am selling), I am in especially vulnerable.

I would probably most miss the thousands of e-mails that serve as a contact resource and history of client communications for much longer than they should. Maxing out Outlook is not a good strategy either, but that is another conversation.

The point is that even if you are a one-person shop, your data is the foundation of your business -- something you don't want to be without. So back up, back up, back up.

If you are interested in talking about good local resources to help you do that, please post them here. We could all benefit from your experience.