With the yet to be seen onslaught of hurricane Irene pending, as folks scramble for bottles of water and stashes of Butterfinger’s to ride out the storm, it might be time to consider a back up plan. While we may not be able to have a back up or do over for everything in life, isn’t it nice to know we can at least safeguard our digital memories and important data files. On a daily basis I see customers walk in with a dead laptop looking like their favorite dog just got hit by a car. After a bit of small talk and background information I get to the key question ” how is your data backed up”? Usually what follows is a long sigh…a look of despair and the inevitable answer, nothing is backed up.

With luck and some level of skill I can usually save the day and pull years of birthday parties, summer vacations and countless tax returns out of the firm grasp of a dying or infected hard drive. But the other option is the rebuilding of your hard drive in a clean room environment at the cost of hundreds to thousands of dollars, or even worse, that cherished picture of your crazy uncle who since passed away doing something incredibly stupid is gone for good.

So before the category three or tropical storm hits you here are some basics points to ponder.

• Computer don’t like water.
• If it gets wet leave it alone and bring it to someone who knows what they are doing, never mind the blow dryer  and the finger crossing. Don’t turn it on!
• Have a back up of all your critical data.
• Have another back up in a different location, either online or stored somewhere else.
• Remember your hard drive will fail, not if , but when and as computers get cheaper, hard drives fail sooner. I see it daily.
• If your system or primary backup system involves a raid array, make sure you have a back up system that doesn’t.