And there's another issue. Restoring from backup is the one function that most users only test once - when it's too late. A common digital disaster is the one-desker, who keeps his or her backup tapes and disks in the same desk or office as the computer. One night a thief comes and steals the computer - and the tapes . Or there's a fire.
Theft is very common, and sometimes they take everything.
For a start there was no phone in my room at the conference centre. A neat row of pay phones was no help. They offered to fax the article for free. My Orange mobile phone has a fax and data socket, but they say it will only work later this year. Anyway, the reception was so poor that I would have had to fax outside in the rain, with the computer in one hand and the phone plus umbrella in the other.