One of the worst things happened to me today. As a problogger who does all of one’s work on his computer, I met the ultimate grief when my computer just died. I suspect a fried motherboard so that’s the end of that PC. Replacing it means that I’ll be building a new computer and just salvage parts from the dead one (organ donor).

Now if you’re wondering how the heck am I writing this post when my computer’s dead, it’s because I have a spare one to work with - a back-up rig. It isn’t as powerful (by specs) as the dead one but it can get me through since it can pretty much handle my productivity needs. I just don’t think I can do high-end multimedia applications with this one without waiting eons for it to finish loading. But for blogging, it’ll do for now.

So I just can’t emphasize the importance of having a back-up. I just spent an hour diagnosing what went wrong with my main rig (autopsy). When I sensed that it’s hopeless for now (unless I rushed out, got funds, and purchased a new motherboard), I just switched to my back-up rig and started posting. Not much time is lost.

Here are some ideas on having a back-up rig. And time is of essence, especially if you have a quota to catch.

Get a desktop and a laptop

By experience, I’m much more comfortable working with a desktop as my workhorse. Desktops are a lot cheaper to assemble/buy and its parts are easily replaceable. Laptops are harder to repair and replace so I don’t suggest working it to death. So I’d rather opt for the laptop to be the back-up rig and as a mobile workplace rather than my workhorse.

Keep your old PC

My back-up rig actually came from a hodgepodge of old PC parts I have lying around at home. So if you have an older PC, keep it working than let it gather dust or send it to the recyclers. There’s no telling when a gadget would fail. I remember back in the day, my old Pentium MMX crashed in the middle of a term paper. I switched to using my old 486DX and finished the report in Windows 3.1. For those concerned with OS issues, use an alternative. For PC users, use Linux instead of violating Microsoft’s license installing Windows on two different machines.

Always back-up your files

A back-up rig is no use if you don’t have your work files handy with you. And make sure you keep them in formats that’d work across machines. I always keep at least three back-ups of my work - 1) thumb drive, 2) optical disc and 3) online.

So a back-up rig can save your life. No time or work lost also means that you’d always be dependable to deliver what’s needed to be done. I’m having second thoughts on revitalizing my main rig. Maybe I’ll just buy me a laptop instead.