What could possibly be worse than turning on your computer in the morning to find everything gone? All work, photos, important files, spreadsheets, music...gone. A number of things could have happened in this scenario. A virus, a faulty motherboard, or maybe your hard drive dies.

Many have experienced something like this, loosing incredible amounts of data, and building frustration in the process. If you are keeping a backup copy of your data though, this problem seems a little less dire. If all your files are stored on backup CD's, the stress level of the situation is greatly decreased.

Mistakes happen. Having a backup is the answer.

If you find yourself with the need to reinstall a program on your computer, it's easy. Everyone generally keeps a disk of the programs that have been installed on their computer and can easily remedy problems by reinstalling them. The same is true for data as well. If you have all of your files backed up on a CD, installing them when a problem occurs is as simple as reinstalling your other programs.

The best thing to do if you decide to make backup copies of your data is to get in the habit of doing it often. Sure it's great to have any sort of backup, but having just those files from a year ago still means a years worth of lost information. Keep your backup copies up to date. Making a backup is easier if you keep your files in one place. When files are scattered all around the computer, it makes it difficult to remember what has already been saved and what hasn't.

In short, having a backup copy can ease the frustration of loosing your data and in turn save hours of rebuilding.