Before a storm hits and the power goes out, it is important to make the effort to protect your personal files on your computer. The best way to protect yourself is to prevent loss altogether by backing up your files or even your entire system.

According to computer technician Robert Rego of Easy Access Consulting, “You back up because of the importance of your data. How important are your computer files to you?”

Mr. Rego suggests these easy methods for preserving your computer files:

1. Using an external USB hard drive: New external hard drives are available on the market that will back up your files, or your entire system, with the simple press of a button, such as the Maxtor One Touch Drives and Western Digital My Book Drives. Both come with software and can be used with both Macs and PCs as long as you are running a compatible system.

2. Utility software programmes: <$>Utility programmes, like Norton Ghost and Acronis, will run within your operating system creating an image that is then copied onto your internal hard drive or on an external drive. They can also help you create your own boot-up disk.

3. USB keys: Really designed for short-term storage and transporting files, USB keys can also provide temporary back up capabilities. Newer models can hold hundreds of gigabytes of data.

4. CDs and Zip drives: Proven by time, burning your data onto CDs or copying on to Zip disks is always a great way to make duplicates of your information, but the process can be time consuming.

Whether your programmes and files can be restored if your computer dies without back up will depend on the cause of the computer failure. Computer failure due to power surges will not usually affect your hard drive and data can still be copied onto another drive, or the hard drive placed into a different machine. However, if you experience hard disk failure, there is not much that can be done.

“It would have to be sent away,” Mr. Rego explains. “That can cost up to $1,000 per hour and there is no guarantee.”

He also strongly urges computer users to secure their machines with surge protectors on both the outlet and through the phone line.