I decided late in 2008 that it was time to buy a new computer. My eMac has served me well for the past 5 1/2 years, but it was time to upgrade. Unfortunately, my computer was thinking the same thing. It’s been acting up for the past few months, but i didn’t think it would just quit on me. So when it finally did, I scrambled to figure out how to recover all the files I lost.

Of course if I’d been backing-up my files, I wouldn’t be going through hours of trying to figure this out. Birthdays, holiday’s and other priceless pictures would not be in danger of being lost forever. And with so many different ways to back-up your files, it’s inexcusable when files get lost.

Apple has found a way to make backing up even more easier, especially for those, like myself, who find dragging and dropping files just too much trouble. A program called Time Machine comes standard in every new Mac and is part of the new Leopard OS. When an external hard drive is connected to your computer, it immediately starts off Time Machine. After an initial set-up, Time Machine is ready to back-up your files automatically every hour.

Recovering lost files is easy and actually kind of fun. If you discover that you lost a file, folder, image, or email; just open up Time Machine, and the lost file will be shown cascading back in time on your desktop. To see how your Mac looked on any given day, simply click on a date, and it will show you that day’s work. The Apple website even has a video to show you how easy this works.

Fortunately for me, some of the pictures I lost were backed-up on CDs. But not everything was recovered. Needless to say, Time Machine is my new best friend. Anybody looking to buy a 5 1/2 year old computer?