Time is precious, especially in an age where we don't bother to really appreciate it as it passes. Yet, many of us play fast and loose with both our work and personal time by neglecting one very simple but easily overlooked task: making backups.

The most vivid reminder to me of the need for backups is from the days when I worked a computer help desk whie in university. Many times a semester, someone would come in nearly in tears, holding the floppy disk that contained their one and only copy of, say, their Ph.D. or Masters' thesis. The disk had been damaged. The thesis was due next week. Could we get their data back. -- Read more