The problem with most modern computers is that it doesn’t take much for them to fail. The spinning disc that has all your data etched on it (the hard drive) will quit spinning eventually, whether due to old age, dislocation or some other catastrophe. Particularly if you have a laptop. And even if it’s some other component of your computer that fails, it’ll be a costly process to get the hard drive removed and the data recovered from it.

Fortunately, with a bit of foresight this entire ordeal can be avoided. The key to feeling secure about your data is through redundancy. An external hard drive costing under a hundred dollars can be set up to automatically preserve the irreplaceable things on your hard drive (personal photos, tax returns, and the like).

If you own a Mac with a system Operating System of 10.5 or newer, you have a program called Time Machine already installed. Once you pick up an external hard drive, it’s just the flick of a switch to begin backing up the entire computer. Every hour automatically, or as you desire manually. It can even do so wirelessly, assuming you have the right hardware.

Getting a backup drive is the most smart, cost-effective tech investment to make after you’ve purchased the actual computer. Not only will all your files be easy to recover in the event of a serious problem, but you’ll be able to revisit the way the computer was at any time you’ve done a backup, so you can recover individual items that you may have moved or accidentally deleted.

Peace of mind is increasingly easy to buy nowadays; the advent of insurance conglomerates, legal recourse and money-back guarantees makes it easy to get compensated when something goes awry. But for when your computer crashes, and your data is lost, there’s no surefire way to protect those crucial computerized essentials than to purchase an external hard drive and back up your computer.