Protecting Precious Memories and Data from a Fire

When flames threaten your home and you're forced to evacuate, sheer panic may cause you to forget those cherished photos and videos. In many cases, there's simply not enough time to grab them all.

When we put a local family through an evacuation drill this week, they spent almost all of their time and energy saving their albums, pictures and irreplaceable videos with the kids' first smiles and first steps.

But wouldn't it be nice if you didn't have to worry about any of it? With a little planning, that's entirely possible. All you have to do is back up your data online.

Mozy and Carbonite, featured in a recent USA Today article, are two companies that offer unlimited storage for your photos, your music, and your Outlook e-mail files for $50 a year.

As Mozy touts on its website, the great thing about it is that your backup files are encrypted and stored in a secure, remote location that's accessible to you from anywhere. And if there's no time to grab your computer in a fire, your data is safe.

The backups are automatic - just schedule the times to back up your data, and Mozy does the rest.

Carbonite's services are similar, and the company reassures you it is always looking for new data on your PC. The moment you add or modify files, Carbonite swings into action to back up your data.

But what about your old photos - the ones that aren't digital?

You can always scan your photos, but anyone who's tried to do this before knows it can take a long time. If you prefer, you can try a scanning service.

At ScanMyPhotos.com, you pay $124.95 for a pre-paid box. Just fill the box with as many photos as you can fit, and they'll scan them all.

The website says the box can hold more than 1,600 4x6 photos, and they'll accept sizes 3x4 up to 8x12. Then, they'll send you a CD with all the images. You can then back those up on your hard drive or online storage service as well.

When I had to evacuate last week, I hastily took video of my house with my Treo phone for insurance purposes so I could document what I owned in case I lost it all.

A much better way to be prepared is to keep an updated home inventory of your assets. For this, you can get help from a website called KnowYourStuff.org.

You can download free software, and can edit, print and store the valuable items you have in your home. You can even store photos of rooms and objects, making your insurance claims quicker if you're a victims of a fire or earthquake.

Sure, all of this will take some time, but if you're organized and prepared, it could end up saving time, and sparing your precious memories.

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