Why don’t people back up?
By Leo Notenboom
I recently posted a recommendation for a specific backup program, but it got me to thinking about backing up in general.
It’s a common topic here on Ask Leo! and for a good reason. Not a day goes by that I don’t see somebody suffering for lack of a backup. Not a day goes by that I don’t see somebody who could have avoided a serious problem simply by having had a backup.
So why don’t more people back up?
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It’s tempting to think that people are being lazy, but I believe that that’s quite unfair. As I mentioned in another commentary, people just expect computers to work. Unfortunately, as we see over and over, it’s frequently not true; it’s just not a realistic expectation.
Let’s face it. Those of us who’ve used computers for any length of time know better. Not because we’re any smarter, but because in all likelihood, we’ve experienced a catastrophic data loss at some point or another. We know better because we’ve been burned.
This post is excerpted with permission from Leo Notenboom.
