I learned the hard way...in other words, almost $3,000 in total. I had 3 hard drives that crashed at different times and I finally HAD to bite the (very expensive and ill-afforded) bullet and fix them ALL to recover things I MIGHT need -- one was so long ago I didn't even know what was on there. I just got the last of the 3 back.

Don't let this happen to you!! An external hard drive is one of the best investments you can make!

It is so important to back up your very important files to a CD, DVD, flash drive or external HD.
just taking the time to do it is the the trick, we always think oh I'll do it later....

Good reminder!

Oh, Jo, you have NO idea! It's been a saga that's lasted (or at least begun) a few years ago. Backing up to DVD wasn't really an option for me (as I understand it) because for some files (audio) the quality was very important. Whether this is true or not (and I'd be interested to know your opinion) it spurred me to get the drive, which I really do need to have.

I am very proud of myself though because last night I managed to figure out how to get old Quicken 2002 files into the same re-installed version. I thought it would be a lot easier to figure out than it was, just install, open file and voila! But it wasn't. (I don't even really use Quicken but I needed that old data!)

yep, good reminder...backup, backup, backup.

I even have other drives that backup my external drive. I backup my backups...LMAO...

All computers in our house are networked and back up to a drive in each machine, but also to the home server drive. Every now and then I dump family photos to a DVD and store in a safe.

We learned the hard way a long time ago.