Hi Graeme, I spend more time backing up than some folks may wish to, but when I had my drive failure, I lost no nothing. I also use a ZIP drive for backup. I keep two sets; one at home, the other in my bank safe deposit box. At the close of each month, I backup all my data files, including my bookmarks and email addresses and take the ZIP cartridges to the safe deposit box where I exchange one set for the other. That set which I bring home is immediately updated. Additionally, I backup, almost daily, my genealogy data on what I call my desktop cartridge. As to fire (or vandalism), I have been putting as much "stuff" on my 6 MG drive as I can, throwing away paper. I still have far more paper than I want, but I can replace most of that...I think. If I lost what data I have, I could not start over. Good hunting, Bob Graeme Card wrote: > > Sorry listers (not exactly FH related) but.... but dimwit that I am, I managed to wipe my hard drive. including my carefully built FILER database and list of contacts. -- Robert H. & Doris A. Ferree P.O. Box 116 Grizzly Flats California 95636 U.S.A. robertf@innercite.com