As computer users nearly all of us are aware that our data is priceless.  We put our photographs, music collections, videos and home movies, and important documents on our hard drives.  Once it's on the computer many of us pretty much forget about all that valuable information until we either need it or our computer crashes.

The most common question by far that I get is, "My hard drive crashed; can I get my data off of my computer or did I lose all of my pictures (or documents, etc)?"

There are so many things that can be wrong with a "crashed" computer and just because your computer won't turn on or you're getting error codes from the OS, doesn't mean that the data is lost.  Just as true however is the fact that just because you can get your computer to boot and get into your OS doesn't mean that you haven't lost data.  Data stored in different parts of your hard drive can become corrupted and you can lose that data even though everything else is running great - scary huh.

The most common way people lose data is that the hard drive itself crashes/dies and the user hasn't backed up properly.  When a hard drive crashes it is extremely hard to retrieve data from it and it usually requires the hard drive to be sent to a data recovery specialist like DriveSavers.  Places like this have the ability to rebuild the hard drive and while this is a very expensive process, it can save your data in many cases.  When I say expensive, it's generally in the neighborhood of $1000 and up. One good thing about DriveSavers is that they don't charge someone if they can't retrieve the data; you only pay for what you get.  The cost of this type of operation is very prohibitive and usually only companies take advantage of this.

If the actual hard drive hasn't crashed physically but:

1. The computer will turn on but will not boot up to the Operating System 
2. The computer won't turn on at all (like there's no power) 
3. The computer starts to boot but you get the "BSOD" (blue screen of death)
4. You got a virus or spyware

then there is an excellent chance of recovering important data from the machine.  It could be as easy as replacing a hardware part or repairing the OS or it could be as difficult as removing the hard drive from the bad machine and connecting it to a good machine to retrieve the data.  This type of work can be done by local techs like My PC Pros and usually runs in the $100-$300 range depending on what is wrong and how much data needs to be retrieved and moved to a different media.

One way you can protect your data and give yourself peace of mind is to sign up for one of the automated backup services that are offered.   These services work by purchasing an account and downloading software.  Most of them automatically configure themselves to backup important types of documents by looking for the extension on files.  For example, they'll look for all .jpg, .png, .gif, .doc, .xls, .pst, and so forth.  You can then tell it to specifically back up certain files and folders and customize it to your liking.

The two most popular are Mozy and Carbonite.

Mozy Online is a popular service that offers users 2GB of free (yes free with no catches) space to backup your files.  Most people have a lot more than 2GB to backup but this is an awesome way to start.  You can signup for a free account HERE.  They also have an unlimited play for non-business users that will backup all your important documents.  This service is $4.95 per month (1 month free for 1 year signup and 3 months free with 2 year signup) and you can use our link HERE

Carbonite is probably the most well known in this category and they run radio commercials all the time.  Their service does not offer a free program but they do have the unlimited backup plan like Mozy does.  They also charge around $5/mo and don't have a discount but because they are well known, some users feel more comfortable with them.  You can signup HERE.

(full disclosure - Yes I do get a small referral fee if you use the links above but I'd recommend either of these companies for free and have done so many times.  I also have accounts with both of these companies for my personal computers.  Also with Mozy using my link in combination with the month's promo code above will save you 10% so it's a win-win)

What I'm trying to get across is this: