It’s estimated that nearly a quarter of all small businesses faced with a natural disaster, fire, or theft ultimately fail because they are unable to resume operations. Implementing a comprehensive data backup plan can help ensure no matter what catastrophic event comes your way, you can quickly restore business-critical data and get back up and running in no time. Not sure where to start? A good rule of thumb is to back up any files or documents that would be impossible or difficult to replace if the original was lost. Here’s a brief breakdown of what that should include.

1. Address Book – Backup your digital address book, especially if it is saved locally (e.g. in Microsoft Outlook) so you won’t have to endure the tedious task of rounding up all your contacts should devastation strike your hard drive.

2. Financial Records – No matter what platform (such as QuickBooks) you use to track your financials, back it up! Statement charges, bills, invoices, payment records…everything needs to be backed up! A loss of financial records could mean financial ruin.

3. Web Browser Bookmarks – If you’re a bookmark addict, make sure you backup your internet bookmarks and RSS feeds.

4. Photos – Include any digital photos that may be part of your business (an obvious directive if photos happen to be the lifeblood of your business, such as a wedding photographer).

5. Text Documents – From letters to press releases, back up anything created in a word doc.

6. Projects – This includes spreadsheets, images, power point presentations, and anything else that falls within the realm of a business project.

7. Email – Email backup is one thing many small business owners tend to forget but think about how difficult it would be to try and replace all your emails from various contacts if they were ever lost?

8. Videos – Same goes for any videos you may have such as commercials, tapings, or educational or instructional films you created or had developed specifically for your business.

It’s recommended that you don’t backup your entire hard drive – only critical files and documents. Backing up your entire hard drive replete with OS program files would be extremely space intensive; such programs can easily be replaced by the manufacturer when you reinstall the operating system.