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Backing up data at Manatt's Inc., a privately owned general construction company in Brooklyn, Iowa, used to be quite an adventure. First, IT Manager Nate Hopwood copied all of the company's most critical files to digital tapes from IBM. Next -- usually hours later -- Hopwood took the tapes, placed them carefully in his truck and drove them home. Finally, he carried the tapes inside, storing them in a desk drawer in his home office overnight.

Hopwood re-enacted this ritual every night for almost four years. Then, in late 2005, at the behest of his chief financial officer and the company's accounting task force, he admitted that in the event of a natural disaster like a tornado, even this method wouldn't provide the company with adequate data recovery.