Backups are important.
I’ve been using a 100 Mb Zip disk to carry a bunch of files between my work and home PCs (just spreadsheets, text files, to do lists, the occasional photo or MP3 file, etc). It works great, but last week I started thinking about what would happen if the disk failed. I’d lose a lot of work, and I haven’t been very disciplined about manually backing it up.
So last week I downloaded a simple little free file-copying program (Karen’s Replicator) and started backing up the disk every day.
This morning, the Zip disk died! Talk about good timing! I didn’t lose a single file.
For what it’s worth, I’m now using one of those little keychain USB drive thingies to hold my files. It’s smaller and more convenient than Zip disks, and can be used in any computer with a USB port.
For more information about backups, I highly recommend [The Tao of Backup](http://www.taobackup.com/).