I was working on a book once and lost the MS Word file when my old pc packed up. Honestly, I was so distressed I almost developed a stomach ulcer that weekend! Fortunately I was able to recover the lost file using special software but the memory still haunts me till this day.

If you've got a career in computers or work with computers often, then you should know that data loss can strike without prior warning. Imagine that you've been pounding away at your keyboard for hours only to have your child lean his or her elbow on the delete key during your toilet break! Worse still your swanky laptop could get stolen in the train or suddenly dropped on a kerb. And even if you're the careful sort, a power surge can occur, as can an unexplained, unprovoked, computer meltdown.

So what should you be backing up regularly? Everything? Finished and unfinished manuscripts would be my first pick. Also, important articles and reports, email lists and address books, expensive software, music, e-books or digital products purchased online, photos, financial statements, websites and blogs.

If you want to be on the safe side, don't wait to back-up valuable files. After reading or editing irreplaceable Word or PDF documents, save them in a rewritable cd/dvd, usb flash drive, zip drive or an external hard drive such as Edge's 120GB Diskgo. You can also use online storage facilities like Mozy or Omnidrive. However, beware that you could still lose your data (despite paying monthly subscription fees) if the online storage company suffers a server crash, hack attack or bankruptcy.

Are you passionate about photography? Then keep your digital photos secure by downloading photos (not just from your SD/MMC cards to your computer but) onto external storage devices (i.e devices outside your computer). Remember that repeatedly saving important files in various different folders inside your computer ISN'T backing up. For instance if you store your music collection on your desktop as well as in your 'My Pictures' folder, it would still be susceptible to loss if anything drastic happened to your computer.

If you're great at sticking to routine, then pick a day of the week (or one day in the month) when you back up all your valuable files. If you don't want one more thing to put on your 'to do' list, then search the internet for software that could help you back your files up automatically. For instance my entire Wordpress blog (templates, posts etc) is automatically backed up and sent to a designated email address because I built the blog using RapidNiche software.

Life is full of surprises and the computer world is no exception. If you want to save your life (or sanity at the very least), be sure to backup your most valuable documents starting today.