A Cautionary Tale

It’s one of those things you always promise yourself and quite often it’s something that gets forgotten or put on the ‘do it next week list’. The reason I wasn’t able to post a MAD Moment last week, was because my computer died.

The hard drive just went and despite my best attempts at all the usual things, it couldn’t be recovered. Even after a couple of days with the local PC repair experts it was beyond recovery and although I did get my laptop back, it had a new hard disk installed so was missing everything else, except the operating system, Office and the ability to at least connect to the Internet.

Fortunately, I had a backup of the data - unfortunately it's only from mid May, so I've lost a few weeks work ... but better than nothing. I've also got the entire C: drive backed up from the beginning of the year - again not current but better than having nothing at all.

This week it’s a reminder and gentle warning for you. If you lost your computer - what would the impact be to you and your business? Think about it - how would you function? What would you need to keep going?

• Make sure you backup your data regularly - not just the documents you use but also your mail files, calendar etc.
• Sync up with a PDA/Blackberry/Mobile Phone - for your calendar, contacts and email.
• Have an online mail system - at least you can temporarily access your email. Most local libraries offer free internet access.
• Keep a note of userids/pswds somewhere - in coded form obviously.

It's an ideal opportunity to declutter the hard disk and get rid of all those programmes you rarely use but I don't recommend it.

The older your computer is - the more likely it is to happen. Of course, we all know we should take regular back-ups but how many of us actually do?

Don't get caught out - take that backup today!