If you use technology at work, chances are high you will hear something quite often from your IT staff. Something that sounds vaguely like, “…make sure you backup your important work…”

IT people - of which I am one - like to say things like this. It’s because it indemnifies us when we have to tell you that it’s not normal for your computer’s hard drive to sound like it’s grinding coffee beans. It’s not normal at all! It’s likely the sound of your data being scrubbed into oblivion by the spinning electronic bits inside.

We like to lecture, “If you had backed up your data this would be no big deal.” And we cluck our tongues at the idea that backing up is “just too difficult” to do on a regular basis. “That’s no excuse,” we retort, “It’s a necessary responsibility of using technology!”

And the dirty, dirty secret that almost 99.6% of all IT people have is this; they seldom backup their own important files. And by seldom I mean never.

And do you know why? Because backing up files is difficult, boring and generally - to borrow a non technical term - not “sexy”. Who wants to stay home and make sure their backup runs successfully? No one, that’s who!

And that brings me to the point of this message. After an almost three months long hiatus - caused by a hard drive failure and no recent backup - my web site is once again functional. I’m finally back on-line and can once again write about what’s on my mind. I’m hoping my audience (of perhaps 7 people) will at this point rejoice.

I can say with some experience now; if you don’t backup your data on a regular basis you’re just begging for trouble. I wasn’t and trouble certainly had no problem finding my server.

So please make sure you actually heed your local IT professional’s advice to “backup often” and you have my permission to feel smug and superior on the inside with the knowledge that he probably doesn’t follow his own advice!