Imagine the following scenario: you just purchased a new hard drive for your computer and got all of your software for installed. You transferred all of your documents, photos, and music from your other hard drive to the new hard drive.

Now, imagine how you'd feel two weeks later when that new hard drive crashes...

I don't have to imagine, because that really happened to me. It happened in January, 2007. I really did buy a new hard drive. I really did get all of my software installed. I really did transfer all of my documents, photos, and music over to my new hard drive. And two weeks later my hard drive really did crash.

Everything was gone!

There was a nothing I could do about it either. The hard drive was beyond repair, and I could not get any of the files off of it. I was able to return the hard drive for a replacement, but the data was gone.

There is a silver lining to this story however.

One week after installing the new hard drive, I decided to purchase and external USB hard drive and use it for backups. At the time my daughter was 7 months old and I had taken a ton of digital photos of her. I was scared to lose them, so I purchased an external USB hard drive.

By the time the new hard drive crashed, I already had a week's worth of backups on my external USB hard drive.

That meant all of the documents I had saved and all of the music I had purchased, were safe and secure on my external USB hard drive. Even more important, all of the photos I took of my daughter were still there.

I don't know what I would have done if I would've lost all of that stuff. I especially don't know what I would have done if I would've lost all the photos of my daughter. I can't imagine what my wife would have thought... Imagine all of your memories of your daughter's first year of life, suddenly gone because your hard drive fails...

I know everybody has more important things they'd rather spend their money on, and I know that most people figure "it won't happen to me." I'm here to tell you that it does happen, and it can happen to you. It did happen to me, and if I hadn't had a backup, I would've lost everything off of my computer.

External USB hard drives are extremely cheap nowadays, and I strongly recommend that you consider purchasing one. Many vendors sell them, and I personally like the selection at Amazon.com, but wherever you decide to buy one, please think about the value of the data on your computer.

It can happen to you. Don't risk losing those files on your computer that you treasure. Back them up!