Imagine one morning, you open your computer, and *boom* — all your data is gone. No patient records, no invoices, no history. Sounds like a nightmare, right? Well, it can be a reality if you’re not regularly backing up your data. Data backups are like insurance: you hope you never need them, but when things go wrong, you’ll be so glad you have them. Backing up your data at least once a month is a habit every practice should adopt. Here’s why—and what happens if you don’t.

### The Benefits of Monthly Data Backups

With the new round of power failures caused by Eskom, there has been an increase in the reports of computers been damaged and unable to boot up.

While we recommend an interrupted power supply or battery backup system for your computer, these too, sometimes fail. In many cases, once the computer has been repaired, Eminance just keeps on working.

However, in some cases, the hard drives are being damaged, resulting in having to install new units. In addition, some are taking advantage of the power failures (Eskom load shedding) and are replacing their computers.