Your computer seems to know when you’ve neglected to back up important data so it can choose those times to crash and burn. To protect your precious work, you’ve got to preemptively strategize against your devices by making a habit of backing up data as often as possible.

Beating Broke suggests cheap ways to make sure you don’t need to start fresh whenever your computer malfunctions.

* Store photos online. Social networking sites are possibilities, and operations such as Flickr offer unlimited uploads if you pay for a premium membership.

* Invest in an external hard drive. The devices have dropped in price over the years, and allow you to connect them to your computer and automatically back up your data.

Another option, at least for smaller files, is to email them to yourself after you finish them or make significant updates.

Data Backup on a Budget [Beating Broke]

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