When I got my first CD Writer drive, I was in heaven. The knowledge that all my important software and files were safely copied to disk, gave me security against the forces of electronic failure, bad luck and my own stupidity. I love that CD writer. I still use it but it is slow as hell. I have a newer one that burns as fast as fire. However, when it comes to portability and copying speed, I'm really digging USB memory sticks. I admit, I have got my eye on a nice portable hard drive and will probably get one before the year is out. Yep. I love my removable media. I love my backups. I love doing double duty.

"Now that you understand the value of portable hard drives, let's get down to why you need to practice Hard Drive Double Duty. The loss of your files, content, software and sweat is impossible to calculate."

If you've been at this for years, you have collected years of data, image files, HTML files, text files, contact lists, user agreements, passwords, software, bills, receipts, emails, email addresses, IM conversations, more lists and enough digital effluvia to fill, well, a hard drive.

Aren't you a wee bit tired of sifting through your 200+ home-burned CDs? Don't you want a simple way to preserve and transport ALL your stuff, instead of portions? Wouldn't it be nice if you could own removable media that was lightweight, easy to plug in and could hold simply everything you would ever need? Well, it's a great time to be a webmaster because today's portable hard drives are vastly better than those slow clunkers from a few years ago.

Think of it this way. Machines fail. People make mistakes. Technology breaks down. If your web host somehow lost your files in a server upgrade and didn't have a backup, you spend weeks of time fighting for a refund, consulting lawyers and praying that the tech crew miraculously restores your data. Or, you can dump that crappy host and get a new one. Then you could plug in your handy-dandy portable hard drive, containing everything required to resurrect your whole site as if the horror never happened. Or worse, you make some bonehead move like opening a strange email attachment and bammo, your PC is fried. All your passwords. All your software. All gone and you've got nothing better to do than spend hours, rebuilding the configurations that took you months, years, to perfect. Picking through CD after CD, flash card after flash card, DVD after...

Remember how I told you that now is a gret time to be a webmaster? One of the reasons is because not only are hard drives better and faster, they're bigger than ever. Look, I love my little USB card reader because all I have to do is shove it in a port, stick in a memory card, open up my PC's file manager and go to town. Then again, even though memory cards and sticks are bigger than ever, some as big as 16 gigs) they aren't hard drives. Memory cards and sticks can't compare to a fully-functional operating system that you can hold in the palm of your hand. You can buy a 40 gig, portable hard drive that is hand-size, will plug into both a Firewire or USB port and will cost you less than fifty bucks. Good times.

Forty gigabytes just not enough for your massive tools? How about 100 gigs? Two hundred? Five hundred? Is a one terrabyte, portable, pluggable hard drive big enough for you? Because if 1tb can't contain your awesome digital capacities, just wait a year or two. The 10tb portable hard drive is just around the bend. I have seen 750 gig USB drives advertised for as little as $189.00. The 1tb drives go for more but I have found prices just under $300.00.

Now that you understand the value of portable hard drives, let's get down to why you need to practice Hard Drive Double Duty.

How vivid in your mind is the anguished memory of your last wipeout? Maybe it wasn't a wipeout. Maybe you were robbed. Somebody swiped your laptop at the airport. You had a most unlucky fire. The storm blew out all your equipment. There are thousands of possibilities when it comes to misfortune. What if you were smart and made daily hard drive backups of your work machine and website? What if you bought yourself a nice fireproof/waterproof safe and stored your hard drive clone at the end of your workday? Wouldn't you sleep better? Hard Drive Double Duty means that you keep a spare copy of every hard drive you own on portable backup drives. You take an hour or so to update any changes and when you are done, you store your Double Duty Drives in a safe place.

If you run a website big enough to justify a hard drive, you do Hard Drive Double Duty with it as well. When your fancy work machine goes tits up, and all you have is a five-year old laptop with a USB port, you still have all you stuff on your awesome, stupendous, Double Duty portable, pluggable Hard Drive.

Computers are replaceable. Data is not. Your PC devalued by $500.00 the moment you turned it on. The loss of your files, content, software and sweat is impossible to calculate.

I'm convinced. Goodbye dinky memory cards! I'm leaving you for a bigger, smarter backup. I'm off to get me some Hard Drive Double Duty!