And it isn't just the small ones either.

For the love of - insert your favorite deity here - please try to restore your backups, and try to do so on a regular basis. If not all you might have is the illusion of a backup.

It is a very easy trap to fall in to, and I really am happy this guy writes about it because it seems there are still people that feel that if their data is in the hands of third parties that it is safe.

That goes for your stuff on flickr, but it also goes for your google mail account and all those other 'safe' ways to store your data online. In the end you have to ask who suffers the biggest loss if your data goes to the great big back-up drive in the sky, the service provider or you. If the answer is 'you' then go and make that extra backup.