A computer crash is a headache that no one wants to deal with. Whether you use your computer for work or for play (or both!), backing up your data regularly is an important part of being a computer user. If your hard drive dies, you could lose all of your data completely. You don't want to lose a project you have been working on for months, or lose precious family photos, or that mp3 of that f

avorite song that it took forever to find, right? Well, if you aren't making regular back ups of your data and putting them away in a safe place, then you are taking a big risk.

Fortunately, it is not hard to make regular back ups. You do not need to take an expensive computer class at the local college to learn how, and you do not need to pay a pricey technician at the local computer repair shop to do it for you. You can quickly and easily back up all of the important files you want to save on a regular basis. Here's how:

There are several different methods for backing up your data. The method you choose will depend on how much data you have to back up and how you want to store it. For most casual PC users, CD or DVD disk back ups are sufficient. For this method, all you need is a CD or DVD burner drive and some disks. Simply track down all of the files you want to save (make sure they are not too big to fit on a disk!) and burn them. Label the disks carefully with their contents and then put them away in a safe place until you need them later.

If you have a lot of data to back up, then the CD or DVD disk method may not be your best bet. In that case, you can get an external hard drive and use that as your back up storage. External hard drives come in many different sizes, so you will be able to find one that is large enough to hold all of your data and then some. When you are shopping for an external hard drive, be on the look out for ones that have their own cooling mechanisms like fans. Hard drives get hot, and they have moving parts, so keeping them cool is an important measure to take to extend the life of the drive and therefore extend the life of your data. These drives hook to your computer with a cable, and then you can move or copy files over to it as needed. When you are done, unhook it and put it away for safekeeping.