Free, Automatic, Effortless, Internet Backups ... Now You Have No Excuse

You know how I'm always bitching at you to make backups?

Just this week another friend lost another research paper she'd worked on for hundreds of hours. She screamed and railed against the support reps from the manufacturer of her laptop.

No, sweetheart. No. You're lovely, but no. It's not their fault. It's yours.

I don't know what else I have to do to get this through to all of you. You, yes, you, the person reading this right now, you, YOUR HARD DRIVE IS 100% GUARANTEED TO FAIL. It is an absolute certainty. Not maybe. It will. The only question is when.

Hard drives are like the tires on your car. Sometimes they wear out slowly. And sometimes they fail in the most spectacular ways possible.

There is now a free service I am recommending to all my friends, Dropbox. Get it now. No really. Now. RIGHT FREAKING NOW. Not tomorrow. Not when you get around to it. Not when you're done with your project. STOP READING THIS RIGHT NOW AND GET A DROPBOX ACCOUNT. I'm telling you. I'm ordering you. I'm begging you.

OK. Do you have it yet?

Good.

Here's how you use it.

Install it on every computer you own and also your iPhone.

It puts a folder on your computer called "Dropbox". This folder is magic. It automatically syncs between all your systems. Any document you put in your Dropbox will also appear in all your other Dropboxes. From now on, instead of keeping your documents in your "Documents" or your "My Documents" folder, you'll keep them in your Dropbox. Your Dropbox will become your new Documents folder.

AND!

Everything you put in your Dropbox is magically, automatically backup up to the Internet. Dropbox even let's you retrieve older copies of documents you've lost.

Even if you make backups at home (and you should) if your whole house burns down you'll lose your laptop and your backups with it. Dropbox protects you against this.

I have not believed this strongly in a service in quite sometime. Everyone should use it. EVERYONE.

Did you read all of this and not go get a Dropbox account? Then you're an idiot.

Really, please. Do it.