At the office, Wensley McKenney routinely backs up his computer data.
McKenney says, "We back up on-site and off-site every single night."
But he didn't take the same steps at home and is now paying the price.
He adds, "I lost pictures. I lost all kinds of contacts out of outlook."
Kish Melwani, a computer repair technician, is all too familiar with this scenario.
Melwani says, "People don't learn until it actually happens to them and how serious it is."
Consumer Reports' Rich Risco just checked out several back up systems and there's good news.
Risco says, "A couple of back up drives we tested are easier to use. With just a couple of clicks you can get all of your back up chores done."
For example, the Click Free Automatic Back Up drive. Here's how it works.
Risco demonstrates, "You plug the drive into the computer. The drive gets recognized by the pc."
It doesn't take long before the click free drive searches for files and automatically backs up photos, music, e-mail files, text documents, and other key files.
Consumer Reports also evaluated network hard drives. With these you need to be a little more tech savvy.
First you plug the network cable into a router, then install the software to each computer. A pop-up screen walks you through the install.
So with today's systems, it's never been easier to back up your computer. And as wensley mckenney knows, it's well worth it.
The 120-gigabyte Clickfree Portable Back Up Drive costs 90-dollars.
Consumer Reports also looked at another type of drive that backs up everything on your computer.
It's the 160-gigabyte Rebit Drive for 136-dollars.
Just like the Clickfree, it backs up automatically.