Many people don't think about it, but what if your computer lost everything on it in one day? Could you even do anything about it, and if so, what would do? Sometimes when the data is lost it is gone for good.

To make sure that you never lose any of your data, backing it up is of course the best precaution to take. Data backup solutions these days has become very simple and every computer owner can do it.

Backing up your data though can be done in a variety of ways, and your computer is a filing system, so there are many different types of files and data that need to be backed up. First let's talk about the many different types of ways that you could backup your data.

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Data Backup Software

Purchasing some good data backup software will save you time, headaches, and possibly all of your data god forbid anything should ever happen. Data backup software has a variety of options, but most likely will make a data image of your hard drive that can be restored in DOS mode.

For those of you not so tech savvy, if your hard drive ever should crash or get a bad virus that destroys everything, you could only run programs and access files through DOS.

Frankly I recommend the image be burned to a DVD burner, because there is always the possibility that your hard drive could get completely destroyed.

CD/DVD Burner Backup

This is my favorite data backup solution because it is cheap, stores a lot of data, and if taken care of your disc's will last forever. CD burners have been around for a few years now, and most likely your computer already has one.

DVD burners were introduced awhile ago to, but have now come down in price and cost's just about as much as a regular CD burner.

So I recommend a DVD burner because you will be getting two for almost the price of one, and you will have more then 4 times the storage! A cheap and effective data backup solution.

Full hard disk backup

A full hard disk backup is what I recommend everyone do, and is perhaps the best data backup solution imaginable. Imagine, it makes a full copy of your hard drive. The hard drive is where all your data is stored, so a full backup will ensure that not one drop of information is lost.

You can do a full hard disk backup one of two ways. If your computer supports RAID technology, and you can afford another hard drive, then I suggest you use it.

When data is written to your main hard drive, RAID technology will write the exact same thing to the other. So basically it is a perfect mirror image of your hard drive.

The only problem with this type of data backup solution is that the hard disk is in the same computer, so if anything bad happens to the computer then it really becomes a pointless form of backup.

If you want to do this, just hook up your new hard drive, and then read the instruction manual on how to set up RAID.

The second way to make a full hard disk backup is to make a data image of your hard drive. This stores all of your hard drives data in the form of an image, so basically it is like a snapshot of your hard drive and everything on it.

This works great, and the image can be stored on your hard drive, but is recommended that you store it on some type of removable media like a DVD-R or Zip disc just in case your hard drive gets destroyed.

Windows registry

If you use the Windows operating system, then you should know that Windows uses a system of files that stores important data about the hardware, software you installed and user information.

If you are trying to completely re-create your hard drive to be like it was before, then you must backup your registry files or your computer will become very unstable. If the damage has already been done to your registry, then I recommend you use a good registry repair program.

Backup Online

Another great data backup solution is secure online backup at a remote server. This is a good idea because a company will be holding your data for you, on very reliable computers.

Plus, they won't be near your computer (offsite) so if anything happens to your home or PC then nothing will be lost that you saved online.

Your data is valuable, whether it is just some computer game or important tax information, you want it always to be there for you to access and use. That is why backing up your computer is so important, and should be done by everyone.

Web Hosting Backup

A web site hosting should be providing free data recovery hardware as well. This is indeed the best computer backup solution. A cheap web hosting should not be favored instead. If the host also offers internet phones, it is even better. This allows incorporation of an affiliate program in the site itself. The web site design can be tampered with later.