Over 95% of the people and businesses that I speak with have experienced data loss. However the sad fact is that the majority of businesses are woefully unprepared and do not understand the serious risk of data loss. Do you have a disaster recovery plan?

The data that you store on your computer can be lost in many ways. Many people are not aware of the various ways that their data can be placed in jeopardy.

First, there are the obvious ways:

Physical damage to the computer, such as fire or water damage, is one surefire way to lose all the data on your computer. Although insurance may cover the physical damage to your machine(s), and you may be able to replace the actual hardware, no insurance policy can resurrect your data.

Another common way that individuals lose the data they have worked so hard to build up is THEFT. Much like damage done to your computer via various natural disasters, insurance may cover the physical hardware, but no policy will be able to save the information stored on your hard drive and other physical media.

Without some form of backup solution, your data is at risk every day.

There are many other things that can happen that can cause partial or full data loss. Other common occurrences are:

Data corruption (failed CRC or MD5 checks),

Hard drive failure (the older a hard disk gets the closer you are getting to the MTBF, or mean time between failure? that every disk is rated for at the factory),

OS failure (it is not uncommon for a machine to fail to reboot after having critical system files replaced, such as during the application of a Windows Service Pack or driver update).

Human error simply accidentally deleting a file or directory happens more often than you would think. Not to mention the not so accidental? deletion by a disgruntled employee.

Viruses and worms even though protection for these digital pests is readily available and in general use, loss of data associated with them is still widespread.

These are just a few of the pitfalls that can plague the computer that has not had backups done in a timely manner.

Right about now, you may be asking yourself: What can I do' Actually, there is one simple solution to all your data integrity needs: offsite data backup.

Unlike backups you may be used to doing with tape drives or other removable media, offsite data backup provides a much more transparent, easy to use solution, as well as having the added security of storing your files in a secure location that is guaranteed to keep them safe (remember, if your office building catches fire, not only does your workstation lose its data, but your tape backups will most likely be destroyed as well, barring the use of expensive fireproof storage.

Offsite data backup is easy to set up and protects your data in the most secure, economical way possible. If you are considering implementing a data backup for your company or personal computers do yourself a favor and consider using an offsite secure backup service. This is the simplest and most effective form of disaster recovery.

Your DATA is your LIFE. Protect it.