As many of us have already learned the hard way, the part of your computer that is most likely to crash is the hard drive. This can be seriously traumatizing if you are not properly backed up! It is absolutely crucial that you use an external hard drive or another form of back up to protect important files in the case of a hard drive fail. Another available option, which is especially great for businesses, is Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID). Raid is a redundant system that uses multiple hard drives to store your data. What this means is, even if one drive fails, you can still access your data from one of the backup drives.This might sound familiar, and that's because redundant systems are used in many different types of critical applications where failure could result in catastrophe (for example, airplane or cruise ship control systems).  If you plan on using your network for business purposes, RAID is definitely something that should be considered as part of your data protection plan.