I suffered a hard disk crash in the year 2000 after a couple of weeks of strange noises emanating from my computer. I eventually bought a new computer using the $400 rebate offered by CompuServe.
I found a firm in New Hampshire that salvaged all the data from the damaged hard disk at a cost of about $525.00. I liked their service.
Now I back up on zip disks---the smallest size available. My zip disk drive is permanently connected to a USB port on the back of my computer. I do not keep the electric power cord from the zip disk plugged in constantly.
I make no attempt to use proprietary backup software or compression software. I want the material on my zip disk to be readable by WordPerfect, which is the format for everything I back up. Actually I am backing up bits, so I don't see why genealogy software needs a special type of backup.
Reg Niles
RegNMINiles@cs.com