Peace of Mind Organizing

Computer back ups: Just do it

17 February 2009

Every now and then I read a message on a forum or somewhere from someone who’s lost all their data in a computer crash. That person is kindly reminding people to back up their computers, to avoid the heartbreak of everything vanishing into thin air.

I’m happy to say this isn’t one of those messages. I haven’t suffered a computer crash. In fact, I’ve had no computer problems to speak of since I bought my MacBook in July of 2007.

Apple makes it very easy to back up your computer. In their latest operating system, known as Leopard, there’s a program called Time Machine that automatically backs up your system every hour. You just need to attach an external hard drive to your computer.

I’ve had Leopard since it came out a year or so ago and it wasn’t until this weekend that I did a back up. It’s crazy. External hard drives are not expensive. I got a LaCie 500 gigabyte drive from NewEgg for less than $100. Hooking it up and backing up was an absolute no-brainer. I know the value of a back up and Apple couldn’t have made it any easier. So what stopped me?

I think there were a number of factors at play:

• I was paralyzed by indecision. I didn’t know which was the best external hard drive to get. There were so many options. (Which reminds me, I’m reading an article in Scientific American about how having too many choices makes decision-making difficult. More on that in another post.)

• I was being cheap. When I’d think about buying a hard drive, I didn’t always feel like spending a few hundred dollars. I hadn’t done the research to figure out how cheap external hard drives are…and they’ve probably dropped in price in the last year. (Heaven knows what I’d have spent in trying to recover data if I’d had a crash.)

• I was a little scared. I was probably afraid that I’d have technical difficulties and get frustrated. In fact, I did have technical difficulties because I carelessly ordered a hard drive that was pre-formatted for a PC and it took me awhile to figure out why it wasn’t being recognized by my Mac. And I got a little frustrated because I had to return the hard drive and the price had gone up (so I purchased a 500 gig drive rather than 1 terrabyte). But I survived the frustration.

• I let the task languish on my to-do list. Actually, I never put it on a to-do list. Thanks to Autofocus, I’m actually writing things down and doing them.

The moral of this little essay? Back up your hard drives. No matter what it requires—an external hard drive, online back up service, whatever works for you. Just do it.

The other moral is to not let indecision, cheapness, fear, perfectionism or inertia get in the way of doing things you know you need or want to do. This applies to so many things, like setting up a new filing system, writing a will, thinking about a new career or planning a dream vacation. Just do it.

Tagged with: decisions, empowerment, obstacles, procrastination, productivity

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