Where is the warranty policy for your laptop? You don't really know, do you? The warranty policy that comes with a new laptop is often lost or ignored by the purchaser at the time of purchase. It's a new machine so you think "what could happen?" But data loss is a real threat and can be a very expensive laptop repair expense. Is that covered by the warranty? When there's a problem many of us start searching everywhere for the warranty but here's the truth: many times, data recovery is not covered by the manufacturer.

Data recovery can be a costly disaster. It can cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars, and not all of the information may be salvageable. If the hard drive is liquid or fire damaged it can be virtually impossible to save anything. So what can you do to prevent such a disaster?

It is always a good idea to backup all of your files, or at least the ones you care about. You need to be proactive about this, so that if something does happen to your laptop, your information is safe. Most people keep a lot of sensitive personal and professional information on their computers. Hundreds of files they would dearly miss should they be lost. So what are some of your options to ensure that your files are safe?

1-Get a Flash Drive or CD/DVD

Most of us only really care about certain files. Our family pictures, our work projects, our writings. Using a flash memory drive you can attach by USB port or a simple CD / DVD, you can save these files externally. This is also the cheapest way to store data, and should you need laptop repair, you still have access to these files and can use them on another machine.

2-Backup Bookmarks Online

This is especially helpful if you are someone who has a lot of internet browser bookmarks. There are many options online to export your bookmarks so that you never lose them. www.delicious.com and www.diigo.com is a great place to start.

3-Backup to another Hard Drive

If you have a secondary hard drive installed in your desktop computer, or own an external hard drive, you should have a copy of all important files on both hard drives. If you have two identical hard drives, you can setup RAID 1 Mirroring to have this done automatically. Setting up RAID 1 is beyond the scope of this article, so if you’re interested in more information search for additional articles and guides on Google.

4-Create a Disk Image / Recovery Disk

If you want to be sure you have EVERYTHING safely backed up, making a disk image of your hard drive is often the best way to go. There are a number of disk image software programs available; just search on Google for more information. In the event of hard drive failure, you can use the disk image to restore everything to a new hard drive, including Windows, all of your installed programs, drivers, and personal files.

Losing all of your information when your laptop breaks down can be a disaster. Regular backups can mean the difference between a slight setback and a catastrophe. Before this happens to you, make sure to back up your files in case the worst occurs.