Jonathan at My Money Blog gives good advice about backing up important files, especially your financial detals. However, while he points to a free online service called Mozy, I'd seriously think twice before putting sensitive personal data online. While Mozy won PC Magazine's Editor's Choice award, and they claim to be secure, take it from someone who has been a computer programmer for nearly 30 years and a webmaster for 10. Simply put, don't do it!! [Nothing personal against you, Jonathan.]
Don't put your sensititve details anywhere online. But do backup your personal finance files, whether they be for your mortgage details, bank details, online savings accounts, etc. If you don't have a computer with a CD burner, get one. You can buy an inexpensive external CD-ROM burner, and blank CDs are so cheap these days. Burn a CD containing any personal and financial details that you want to preserve. Make 2 or 3 copies and date each one. Keep one copy at a home (preferably in a safe), another in a safe deposit box at a bank, and maybe send a third copy to someone you trust and whom is organized enough to keep your CDs in order.
If your details change quite a bit, make floppy disk backups every month or two and put these in a safe at a home. Once a year, gather up all your new files and burn them to a supplementary CD, and make copies. As before, put them in a safe deposit box, etc. Some new computers do not have floppy disk drives. If you prefer, by one of those small flash memory cards or USB "stick" memory devices. Use them as temporary storage for monthly details, until it's time for your once-per-year CD backups.
One last piece of advice: If you do this over a long period of years, it's possibly that computer memory devices will continue to change. A Canadian friend once told me a story of how they had not filed a tax return in ten years because they didn't know how to file consulting income. They finally went to an accountant, who helped them realize they had a tax return coming instead of owing the Canadian government taxes. This was in 1996.
Unfortunately, because the Canadian revenue agency had changed computers and storage formats in the first few years of my friend's claim, he lost out on $5,000 in tax returns. Don't get into a similar situation. Every 3-5 years, if you notice new types of storage devices/ gadgets, transfer your oldest backups from whatever storage format they are in tothe most recent common form (wait until prices drop). But don't throw out old data. Keep your data safe and usable. It may make a difference for you someday.
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