What Type of Data Should You Back Up?

What you decide to back up depends on the level of importance you place on each type of data. Some data may be easily recovered, while considerable time and effort may go into reproducing other data. Consider the following types of data and decide what level of effort would be required to recover from the loss of each, as well as the impact to your daily life or job:

-Operating system and application software. Many operating systems have the ability to back up to a second hard drive for easy recovery, but this won't always include applications and documents. Keep a backup copy of your operating system and application software, in addition to your original disks.

-Personal data, including e-mail and documents.

-Video, photos, and music files.

- Internet favorites, passwords, and settings for regularly visited Web sites.

If you have a small business or work from home, you should also consider the following data:

- Employee data, including e-mail and documents

- Customer data, including databases, orders, and related files

-Accounting data

After considering these lists, you should have an idea of what you might need to back up. At the very least, you should make regular backups of the most important data on your devices. With the cost per megabyte of hard drives and backup media falling, there is no reason why you shouldn't back up all of your data.