Most of the time we forget that box under the desk. It hums and beeps from time to time but generally is ignored. At the same time we forget what that box is storing for us: bank records, taxes, credit card numbers, and all of our recent family photos.

All of this information is stored on your computer's hard drive. Conventional wisdom dates a hard drive's life at about 3 to 5 years. So, if you have owned your computer for more than a couple of years, you may be in danger of a slight or dangerous hard drive failure in the near future. So, what does this mean for your important documents and pictures?

In the last few years, computer backup websites have been cropping up all over the place. They all come in various shapes and sizes, with various abilities. Choosing which system is right for you is important.

If you are in need of sharing your files and photos, two popular websites are Dropbox and Box.net. Both function as a remote disk drive that you can save files to, and share with friends and family. Overall, Dropbox is a simplifed version of Box.net. Box.net generally markets itself to businesses while Dropbox is typically a consumer product.

If you want a “hands-free” backup solution, check out Mozy. This is a fully-automatic system that will keep all of your computer's files backed up without your intervention.

Of course, there are a number of other products and services out there. Choose wisely! You are going to want to show the grandchildren those pictures someday!