IF YOUR HARD DRIVE dies and takes your whole iTunes folder with it, you could be in for a major media migraine, depending on your backup situation. You can easily recover music, apps, TV shows, and books you purchased from the iTunes Store now, thanks to iTunes In the Cloud (Use iTunes In the Cloud), but your hand-ripped tracks from your personal CD collection and music purchased from other online stores (Buy Songs from Other Music Stores) are gone unless you’re an iTunes Match subscriber (Use iTunes Match). But iTunes Match doesn’t upload copies of your video clips and full-length movies, so those may have just disappeared into the ether as well.

That’s why it’s important to back up the iTunes library—if not your whole computer—unless you’re one of those types who likes starting over from scratch.