Dr. Steenbarger's recent harddrive failure reminded me about the importance of backing up my data. Everything that I do with trading is on the computer. Consequently, I have many files that are vital to my trading. From web bookmarks to chart templates to source codes, I would have to make a checklist to ensure that I backed up everything frequently. But only if I were to do my backup manually. Being the lazy and cheap person that I am, I don't like the idea of forcing myself to backup frequently. That is why my folders are synchrnized automatically to an online file server using Mozy Remote Backup. I don't have to do a thing to know that all my important stuff are safe. There are two reasons why I choose Mozy. It is one of the two biggest names in the business (the other is Carbonite). It is the only one of the two to offer a free for lifetime 2GB online backup space (affiliate). The benefit of using Mozy is that it actively synchronize my files to their cloud storage server. These are files that I change often. It makes sense to use Mozy to monitor and back them up automatically so that I don't have to worry about them. Still, I have another 50GB+ of personal photos, videos, and documents that won't fit in this free 2GB space. Which is why I only use Mozy for my frequently changing or critical files (mostly trading related). For the rest of my 50GB+ data, they are typically static content (e.g. photos and media files). So there is not much point for me to pay a monthly fee. I rather spend a few minutes a month to make backup DVDs or upload them to my Amazon S3 account. That way, I have all my data backed up and get to keep my \$5 a month (price of monthly subscription fee for an unlimited storage space backup) too. I am not being paranoid. Another one of my computers died on me a few years back with no prior warning. Its power supply suddenly blew up in smoke and sparks one day. The scene was quite spectacular. More than a few components were damaged then. I doubt that I will see that kind of fireworks again. But who knows what else could go wrong with this aging computer (4 years and counting)? A data failure with my computer would indeed be very costly for me. I invested a lot of time and energy on my trading work. If my harddrive were to fail, I may lose all of that work if I don't have a backup. That is why I have a free automated data backup plan which doesn't require me to lift a finger.