Maintaining a PC is not only limited to keeping its hardware and software running smoothly but also in backing up important data. Backing up of important files is necessary because there is always the threat of disasters like viruses that can corrupt files or harm a hard driver’s file system. Physical damage to the drive that holds the important files can also happen anytime. Backing up of files is simply making a copy of the important files that are then stored in a different physical location than that of the original files.There are many back up devices available, the most common one is the CD and DVD. Blank CDs and DVDs are quite cheap and you can buy many of them for storage purposes. You can burn copies of your important files to a CD, or DVD if it requires bigger space than the CD could provide. Years ago floppy disks were used for backing up files but nowadays floppy disks are considered obsolete means of storing files because they have very small capacity and they are easily damaged. Newer devices that are now used in backing up of files are USB flash drives that can hold gigabytes and gigabytes of files. There are UB flash drives that can hold up to 16 GB of data. Portable drives are also becoming quite common, they can hold tens of gigabytes of data.Another alternative device for storing backup files are zip drives. Some companies use the services of remote backup providers that allow them to upload important files to a server that will then store their files in a safe location.