One egg, many baskets

Most PC users would probably agree that the data on their computers is more valuable than the hardware itself.

You can better preserve your data by simultaneously keeping at least two copies your backups on different forms of media (and in different locations if you're paranoid).

For example, you could back up your data on both a portable hard drive and a collection of DVD-Rs.

That way, should one form of backup fail, either through an accident or device failure, you can fall back an the other.