12/21/2012 won’t be the end of the world as we know it, but it sure could feel like it. If you’ve ever had a complete hard drive failure, lost a laptop, contracted a virus, or dropped your phone in a lake you will fear the end is near!

It’s about keeping copies of information that you didn’t even know you wanted until it’s too late. Thankfully it’s a simple process with several options to back up your content to separate locations.

1.  External Hard Drives. Keep your data safe on a portable hard drive that you can keep in a fireproof safe, safe deposit box with your bank or credit union. Or simply store it in an unattached structure, such as a garage, shed or your office to prevent loss during a fire. A good rule of thumb is to purchase a external hard drive with twice as much storage as your computer’s hard drive.

2.  Backing Up to the Web. Select from a number of cloud-based, hosted backup service you feel comfortable with.  Some providers include Carbonite, DropBox and Mozy.

3. Back up Your Smart Phone. Storing information in the cloud means you can access them from any device that has an Internet connection. Your content will live online, available on a personal, password-protected website.

4. A Direct-to-Friend Back Up or Shared Hard Drives. Keep multiple copies of your data in the hands of trusted friends or family. If something happens to you, at least the people you trust will also have copies of your memories, to pass along to the people you wanted to have them.

Avoid your digital world from crashing down, Henny Penny. Don’t store all those eggs in one basket, back up to a hard drive or online. We all use different operating systems, look for the one that works best for you.