There are a number of ways to back things up. One quick and dirty way is to use a CD or DVD burner on your computer to burn copies of your data. Simply back up your data and store the disc somewhere.

But this option has problems. You have to remember to go ahead and back your stuff up to it once a month or even more frequently, right? And burn the disc. And take it somewhere secure, because even in a lockbox in your own house a fire could melt the disc. And then there are the details of what version of your data you burned to which disc. Unless you're terrifically organized and discipline, I don't recommend this option. It's often more trouble than it's worth.

So what about backup drives? For anywhere from under $100 on up you can get hundreds of gigabytes of space to terabytes if you're willing to pony up the cash. It's great for businesses large enough to need to back that kind of data up. For the rest of us? It's nice, but it's still sitting next to the computer to get burned or flooded with the main computer in a disaster. So unless you have a pair of these and swap them out to a secure location, which sounds like a drag, they're still vulnerable.

Yes, you can get all sorts of neat, simple to use, automated software to backup to your external hard drive. But that misses the points above. The backup isn't secure against disaster, and it isn't really offering advantages over the discs, is it?

Online backups offer some advantages that I think make them stand out. You can set up automatic software to snag the data off your hard drive and whisk it away to servers that are located away from your computer. I lean toward these services like Mozy and iBackup.

These not only automate the backup so you can fire and forget it, but they do something cooler: They let you access your files online, from wherever you are. Obviously this is a huge plus. Mozy offers you the service free up to two gigabytes, which is a nice way for you to test the water.

If you have a Google Gmail account, you can use Gmail's file system to make backups. Gmail Drive for Windows and gDisk for Apple allow you to easily mount and drag-and-drop files over to your Gmail account.

The issue with both Gmail and online backup accounts is that you're essentially trusting your data to someone else. That's a hard leap for many to take, and an understandable one. As a result, for a final solution, I'll offer up the last option:

Thumb drives are, as advertised, about the size of a digit. More importantly, these tiny devices can take up to 16 gigabytes while still being small enough to slip into the coin pocket of a pair of jeans, hang from a belt loop, or from a necklace. Slap your important and commonly used files on the drive and make it your main working device. Many people come to think of their drive as their "home directory" which can be put on any computer they arrive at, and these days most computers can accept a USB drive.

The other nifty aside to that is several computer programs are being made to work on flash drives. Mail programs like Thunderbird and web browsers like Firefox have versions that will keep your mail and browsing preferences on the thumb drive. Some versions of Linux will even run on a thumb drive. Jack in and carry your whole computer environment with you.

While that's a little more advanced than the "Tech for the rest us" title suggests, it shows the unique potential of the thumb drive. Of course, if you keep all your data on just the thumb drive you're setting yourself up for a fall. But if you have a home computer, you can occasionally dump your files off the thumb drive onto that computer.

That's right, I'm ending the list of backup solutions by suggesting you use your home computer as a backup for a thumb drive!

Whatever you do, hunting for a simple backup solution doesn't have to be all cod liver oil. It's something you should do, but it's also something that can offer you some advantages you'll come to depend on. Start looking today, because the weakest point of a computer is the hard drive, no matter how stable or secure your computer is, your hard drive will fail, it's just a matter of time and moving parts.