By Hiawatha Bray
May 5, 2008

Not many consumers presently use online backup — only about 1.5 percent, according to a survey taken last year by research firm IDC Corp. in Framingham, Mass. But lots of companies offer online storage for small amounts of data, often at no charge. Two firms promise to store every file you’ve got for as little as $50 a year.

You’ve been through this before. A smart-aleck technology columnist tells you to back up your computer files or else. Sure enough, you choose “or else,” because making spare copies of your files is too much bother.

You don’t want to spend $100 or more on an external hard drive or figure out how to install the automatic backup software. Besides, if your house is robbed or burned down, there goes your computer and your precious backup, too.

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