Most computer users don't start backing up their files and data until after a catastrophic failure that has left them without hours (or days, weeks or years) of data, files and other irreplacesable.  There are plenty of good solutions for backing up your data to an external hard drive, and while that can save you from the all-too-common equipment failure, it does nothing for the kind of catastrophe like fire, flood or theft that takes your computer and external drive with it.  Yes, you could keep your external drive someplace separate from your computer, but really, that's a lot of work.  The solution is online backup, which stores your files securely offsite. For as little as $4.95/month, you can have complete peace of mind that all your precious files are safe and sound.  I haven't extensively researched these systems, but my webmaster friends Andy and Bill have, and they passed on this recommendation: Mozy.com, for their combination of price (starting at $4.59/month for unlimited personal storage), ease-of-use (it works automatically in the background, on macs and PCs), and customer service (they're actually available and helpful).  $60/year gets you complete peace of mind.  And you can try it with 2GB of free storage backup.  Sign up today at Mozy.com.