Most people who use computers would have experienced a data loss of some form or the other and would be able to value the importance of a online data backup. Just a power breakdown or upsurge, when we are working on a computer can cause some data loss. And, depending on the nature of the task we were doing, can be a matter of some aggravation or something more significant like loss of a day's hard work, and most likely, also its revenue.

Whether one is an individual or a business, one of the most valuable assets is the data that we've collected over time - accounting files, contacts and correspondence, contracts, photos, or anything else of value to us or our business. The material value of a computer is probably just a fraction of the value of the data contained within it. This becomes even more magnified when the computer contains data related to one's work or business.

As we all know, things that are beyond our control can happen resulting in our losing our computer or the data stored in it. Hard drive crashes, data corruption, natural disasters, sabotage and human error are all serious threats that can easily destroy years of hard work and the very foundation of any business. Consider the following statistics which are just alarming:

- One in four computers will suffer a serious data loss in a given year (Gartner Group);

- Data loss costs U.S. businesses $12 billion (IDC) a year;

- 70% of small firms that experience a major data loss go out of business within a year (DTI/PriceWaterhouse Coopers.

The above figures reveal how important it is for individuals and businesses to have an online data backup plan to protect their critical data against the myriad of risks like hard drive crashes, corruption, natural disasters, sabotage and human error. The fact is every computer and user is susceptible to these risks and a remote backup is just essential. In case of any calamity, recovering your data is as easy as a few clicks of your mouse.

Though there are traditional methods of data backups, such as backing up data to tapes, zip and external drives, CDs and DVDs, these methods are very tedious, time consuming and unreliable. Studies have shown that over 50% of all tape restores fail! And, to protect against disasters like fire, flood and theft, backup files must be stored at an off-site location but this step is overlooked most times.

The need for a good data backup plan cannot be overemphasized and should be a solution that is an automated, online transfer of files. All the files should be transferred only in an encrypted format so that they are protected from hackers. The backups should be incremental, that is, only the new files and the files that have changed since the last backup should be transferred. Any good remote backup service, in addition to the above mentioned features, would also provide free 24/7 support.