In light of the constant but small threat of hard drive crashes and other computer problems, I decided to protect our personal files by buying an external hard drive. About the size of an internal CD or DVD drive but much more attractive, every morning it automatically backs up the “My Documents” section of my computer where all of our personal files live. I can also press a button on the drive and back up the files any time I want. It was about $100 at Wal-Mart and very easy to set up. If/when we ever get a laptop, it will also provide an easy way to transfer our files from the old computer to the new.