Backups

Backups are something I remind people to do, an awful lot. Not in every column, but probably monthly. There are so many ways to backup data, and lots of media. You can copy & paste to a thumb drive, you can run the OS’s built-in program or app, you can offload data to a cloud server or backup service. Many options are free, or relatively free, and some cost money for space.
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Something to remember is that, generally speaking, your programs won’t be saved, and usually not the operating system. This isn’t necessarily a big deal, as you can re-download programs and apps, and install them. The operating system isn’t likely that difficult to come by either, so even if you need a new hard drive, the computer is still likely recoverable.
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What I find the trickiest issue in recovering from a hard drive crash is the email. If you use Outlook, the email may be recoverable via the .pst file that Outlook creates, if the data is retrievable from the bad hard drive. If you use imap, typically the mail is all still on the server your mail is delivered to, so just setting up your client (your email program) will recover the email.

Some people use their email as a file storage system. You can create folders outside the server’s email system and store things both locally on your computer and on the server, or just locally. If all the mail is still on the server, it’s easy to get back when setting up the new hard drive. If your mail is just on your computer, and the hard drive is not readable, then it’s all gone.
Whatever email client you use will have the ability to create backups of your mail and of your address book. Make sure you save them somewhere other than your computer. How often you make backups is up to you, but please, make a backup.