This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/ZMB.2ACI/1642.1 Message Board Post: You have my total sympathy, I lost a computer to lightning about 8 years ago and lost my entire 20 year data base. Two months ago my new 11month old hard drive crashed because of a manufacturers defect. This time I had religiously backed up my genealogy files and data base to a CD, and it took me about 30 minutes to reload all my data. Spring season is upon us, and where I live (Oklahoma) that means electrical storms and lightning! Surge protectors are not fool proof agains lightning. Make a habit of backing your databases up to some CD, floppy disk, internet storage, tape, etc. There are tape backup devices that are not very expensive, and almost any high school kid can help those of us who are computer challenged set up of a path that you can routinely use to back up your files. Again I don't know how much you lost, but any is too much.