If you think witches and ghosts are scary, trying losing every photo that you’ve ever taken. Viruses, hackers, human error and other computer-related disasters may not be a popular costume, but they can wreak havoc way beyond the shelf life of even candy corn (that’s a long time!).

Maxell is urging consumers to start thinking about backing up their data, with Maxell Fall Backup Day. Of course, they picked October 31, which means you may be doing the data deed in a Jason mask or while shoveling multiple bite-sized 3 Musketeers.

According to a recent Harris/Symantec Data survey, 43 percent of computer owners surveyed don’t back up—ever. That’s funny (in a sad way), since a quarter of those same respondents said they had all been victims of a crash and had lost data over the last six months.

How Maxell is promoting Backup Day is anyone’s guess. Sending out a press release? Sounds like a plan. Of course, you should back up your data more than once a year, just like you should eat candy corn more than once a year (although that’s more of a guide than a rule).

So don’t expect a parade, in-store promotions or anything else. Still, I like to promote backing up whenever possible, because I too have lost data—more than a few times!

Rachel Cericola - Contributing Writer

Over the past 15 years, Rachel Cericola has covered entertainment, web and technology trends. Check her out at www.rachelcericola.com.