One of the most neglected (and most important) PC maintenance procedures is data backup. There are too many overconfident people trusting that nothing will ever happen to their computer. They believe "it will never happen to me" or "I know what I am doing". Unfortunately, all too often, something can and does happen. We live in a world where there are power surges, hard drive crashes, human error, viruses, theft, fire, and the list goes on and on. These are just a few examples that shows why backing up your computer is so essential.

Types of Backup
The type of back up you do is largely dependent on what you want to backup. There is the system backup where you create an image of your hard drive so that not only data is backed up but your software, operating system, system settings, and more is safely stored away. Essentially, your whole hard drive is being backed up so if you ever need to restore it, everything will be exactly as you had it before.

Of course, most people can get away with just a data backup. This backup type is just for storing files and data and not programs or software. Mostly this is for prevention against accidental deletions or frequent changes to documents.

Backup Schedule
How often you backup will be determined by things such as the volume of data you wish to backup, how often you make changes to the data, and the importance of the data. So if you work on file on a daily basis with important names and dates to remember, it is a good idea to setup a daily backup schedule. If you make changes only week to week, you might get by with a bimonthly or monthly backup schedule.

Basically, the more important and the more frequent the changes, the more frequent you want to do your backups. Although it can be quite tedious to do backups everyday, if it is important data that is being updated it will be well worth it. Remember, even doing a once in a while backup is better than no backup at all.

Backup Tips
Don't wait until you lose all your data before you start your backup schedule. That is like installing a fire alarm in your house after the house burns down.

Not all backup software are created equal. Be sure to select a good program that can process twice as much data as the data you want to backup.

To save time, don't backup unnecessary data. This not only takes time but will take up valuable backup space.

Consider having alternating backup files. As an added precaution, you should have 2 backup files instead of having 1 file and constantly having to save to the same file. For example, if your backup schedule is set for the 1st and 15th of each month, you would have 2 backup files one for each of those dates. This ensures that if something happens to the most recent backup, you will never be missing more than a month's worth of data on this schedule.