One of the most important tasks for all PC users should be to regularly back up data in their computer. By not planning ahead for a disaster such as hardware failure, virus attack or an own mistake, they risk losing important files and information forever.

I’ve seen such disasters happen: One day my 80GB hard drive, made by Hitachi, just started making noise and it died. I lost many songs, movies and programs. Another time my laptop wouldn’t recover from a Blue Screen of Death and I almost lost everything. A dangerous virus can also wipe out your operating system, damage boot records and again, you can lose your data. However, you could produce the same result by making a mistake yourself, for example by formatting the wrong drive or partition.

I’m sure many PC users don’t back up regularly, but would find it very annoying if they lost everything from their hard drive. Therefore you must use some software to back up data. There are programs that let you copy all data from your hard drive and store it safely somewhere else. Some programs use external devices such as CDs, DVDs and flash drives, and others reserve space on the hard drive for recovery. It’s better if you use external storage, which won’t be connected to the PC all the time.

The following is a list of free backup programs I found that have decent reviews:

• Cobian Backup
• DeltaCopy
• Cucku Backup
• Backup Maker
• Ace Backup
• Microsoft SyncToy
• Personal Backup
• Allway Sync
• Comodo Backup
• Areca
• Clonezilla
• Create Synchronicity
• Uranium Backup

For screenshots, features and reviews of most of these programs, please visit this Ghacks site.

Online backup solutions include Mozy, Wizzdrive/Humyo, IDrive and SOS Backup, and DriveImage XML is an imaging software that also acts as a backup program.

I also read great reviews on Acronis, and it costs only $49.95. Alternatives include Carbonite, Norton Ghost, SafeCopy Backup, Macrium Reflect, Bullguard Backup  and Genie Backup Manager.

Obviously, some of these programs may have limitations, but I suggest you try a few until you find the one you like.