Valuable Papers and Records Coverage: Protecting Irreplaceable Documents

After a fire or flood, most people think first about the building and the furniture. The walls, the roof, the appliances, the clothing — these are the tangible, visible losses that dominate the claims process. But there is another category of loss that is often far more consequential and far more difficult to resolve: the destruction of valuable papers and records. A lifetime of documents — deeds, contracts, architectural plans, manuscripts, genealogical records, case files, medical records, tax returns — can be reduced to ash in minutes. The paper itself may be worthless. The information on it may be irreplaceable.

Valuable papers and records coverage exists to address this gap. It does not pay for the physical paper or the binder it sat in. It pays for the cost of researching and reconstructing the information that was lost. This is a fundamentally different concept from standard property coverage, and it is one that both homeowners and business owners routinely underestimate until a disaster forces the question.

What Are “Valuable Papers and Records”?

The term “valuable papers and records” has a specific meaning in insurance. It refers to documents and records that have intrinsic value because of the information they contain — not because of the physical medium on which they are recorded. The ISO definition, used in the standard commercial property endorsement CP 04 70, defines valuable papers and records as:

“Inscribed, printed or written documents, manuscripts or records, including abstracts, books, deeds, drawings, films, maps or mortgages. But ‘valuable papers and records’ does not mean money or securities.”

This definition is broad by design. It captures virtually any physical document where the value lies in the content rather than the medium. A blank sheet of paper is worth a fraction of a cent. A deed recorded on that paper represents ownership of real property worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. An architectural blueprint is just ink on vellum — but the engineering calculations, design decisions, and construction specifications it contains may represent thousands of hours of professional work.

Common examples of valuable papers and records include:

• Legal documents: Deeds, titles, contracts, wills, trusts, court filings, case files, depositions, abstracts of title
• Financial records: Tax returns, accounting ledgers, loan documents, mortgage papers, partnership agreements
• Architectural and engineering drawings: Blueprints, site plans, structural calculations, as-built drawings, specifications
• Maps, surveys, and plats: Boundary surveys, topographic maps, geological surveys, historical plat maps
• Manuscripts and research: Academic papers, book manuscripts, research data, field notes, laboratory notebooks
• Film and negatives: Original film negatives, photographic transparencies, motion picture film, microfilm and microfiche
• Medical and professional records: Patient files, treatment histories, diagnostic images, professional case notes
• Historical and genealogical records: Family histories, immigration documents, military service records, birth and death certificates

Valuable Papers in Homeowner Policies

Under the standard ISO HO-3 homeowner policy, valuable papers fall under Coverage C — Personal Property. However, they are subject to one of the Special Limits of Liability that silently cap recovery on specific categories of personal property.

The HO-3 form includes a sub-limit for “manuscripts” within the broader category that also covers securities, accounts, stamps, and tickets. Under the standard unendorsed form, this sub-limit is typically $1,500 per occurrence. That $1,500 must cover all manuscripts, stamps, and similar items destroyed in a single event — combined, not per item.

For most homeowners, this sub-limit is adequate because they do not possess large quantities of manuscripts or irreplaceable documents. But for homeowners who work from home, maintain home offices with professional files, keep extensive genealogical research, or store original creative works, the $1,500 cap can be devastatingly insufficient.

Consider a freelance writer who has spent three years working on a book manuscript. The only complete copy is a printed draft in their home office. A kitchen fire destroys the office. The cost to recreate three years of research and writing is incalculable — but the policy pays $1,500. A retired professor with decades of unpublished research notes stored in file cabinets faces the same problem. The homeowner policy was never designed to cover the professional or intellectual value of documents kept at home.

Endorsements and Scheduling

Homeowners who need more than the standard sub-limit have options. Some carriers offer endorsements that increase the manuscripts sub-limit, though these are not universally available. Another approach is to schedule specific items under a personal articles floater or inland marine endorsement. Scheduling removes the item from the sub-limit structure and provides agreed-value coverage for the specific amount listed on the schedule.

However, scheduling valuable papers on a homeowner policy presents a practical challenge: how do you appraise a document? Jewelry can be appraised by a gemologist. Firearms can be valued by a dealer. But the value of a manuscript in progress or a collection of genealogical records depends entirely on the cost to recreate the information, and that cost is often unknown until the documents are actually destroyed and someone attempts the reconstruction.

Commercial Valuable Papers and Records Coverage

In the commercial insurance world, valuable papers and records coverage is a well-established coverage form. The ISO Valuable Papers and Records endorsement — CP 04 70 — can be added to a Commercial Property policy to provide dedicated coverage for the cost of researching and reconstructing documents destroyed by a covered cause of loss.

The commercial form is fundamentally different from a homeowner sub-limit in several important ways:

• Dedicated limit: The endorsement provides its own coverage limit, separate from the building and business personal property limits. A business can carry $100,000, $500,000, or more in valuable papers coverage depending on its needs.
• Cost of reconstruction: The coverage pays the actual cost to research, replace, or restore the lost information — including hiring researchers, obtaining copies from third parties, re-creating drawings and calculations, and re-entering data.
• Blank value for irreplaceable items: If documents truly cannot be reconstructed — because the information is unique and no other source exists — the endorsement pays the “blank value” of the physical materials (the cost of blank paper, binders, and media). This is a significant limitation that policyholders should understand.
• All-risk basis: The CP 04 70 endorsement typically provides coverage on a “special” (all-risk) basis, meaning any cause of loss not specifically excluded is covered. This includes fire, water damage, theft, vandalism, and accidental destruction.

Who Needs Commercial Valuable Papers Coverage

Any business that relies on physical documents or records to operate should evaluate its need for valuable papers coverage. The businesses most at risk include:

• Law firms: Client case files, court documents, contracts, depositions, discovery materials, corporate formation documents. A mid-size law firm may have thousands of active and archived client files, each containing documents that took hundreds of hours to compile.
• Architecture and engineering firms: Original drawings, structural calculations, project specifications, as-built documentation. A single commercial project may involve hundreds of sheets of drawings.
• Accounting firms: Client tax returns, financial statements, audit work papers, partnership returns. Tax season losses can destroy an entire year of client work product.
• Medical practices: Patient records, treatment histories, imaging studies, clinical notes. While HIPAA and state regulations increasingly require electronic backup, many practices still maintain extensive paper files.
• Real estate firms: Title abstracts, survey records, closing documents, lease files. A title company’s entire business depends on the accuracy and completeness of its records.
• Construction companies: Permits, inspection records, as-built drawings, warranty documentation, subcontractor agreements. Losing these records mid-project can halt construction and create liability exposure.
• Research institutions: Laboratory notebooks, field research data, unpublished findings, grant documentation. Years of research can be concentrated in a single filing cabinet.

For businesses handling large commercial losses, the valuable papers component can represent a significant portion of the total claim — particularly for professional service firms where the primary asset is information, not physical inventory.

Electronic Data: The Modern Evolution

The original valuable papers and records forms were written for a paper-based world. As businesses and individuals have migrated to electronic records, the insurance industry has responded — though not always clearly or consistently — with electronic data coverage.

Under the standard ISO commercial property form, “electronic data” is explicitly excluded from the definition of Covered Property. It is not personal property. It is not valuable papers. It occupies its own category, and it requires its own coverage — typically through the Electronic Data additional coverage built into the CP 00 10 form or through a separate endorsement.

The standard electronic data additional coverage provides a modest limit — often $2,500 — to cover the cost of replacing or restoring electronic data that is destroyed by a covered cause of loss. This includes the cost of re-entering data, reprogramming software, and restoring information from backup sources. Like the homeowner sub-limit for manuscripts, this amount is woefully inadequate for any business that depends on its data.

The distinction between “valuable papers” and “electronic data” creates a coverage gap that catches many policyholders off guard. A law firm that maintained its case files on paper was covered under the valuable papers endorsement. The same law firm, having digitized those files and stored them on a server, may find that the valuable papers endorsement no longer applies — because the information is now electronic data, not inscribed or printed documents. The coverage that once protected the information evaporated when the medium changed from paper to digital.

Real-World Disaster Scenarios

Valuable papers losses are most devastating in the context of catastrophic events — fires, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes — where entire buildings and their contents are destroyed. In these situations, valuable papers are often the last thing anyone thinks about, and they are frequently the most difficult and expensive component of the loss to resolve.

The Law Firm That Lost Everything

A small litigation firm with eight attorneys occupies a two-story office building. A fire breaks out on a weekend when the office is unoccupied. By the time the fire department arrives, the building is fully involved. Every paper file in the building is destroyed — active case files, archived client matters, court documents, contracts, depositions, and discovery materials spanning twenty years of practice.

The immediate crisis is not the furniture or the computers. It is the fact that the firm has active cases in litigation with upcoming deadlines, depositions scheduled, and trial dates on the calendar. Court filings must be reconstructed from the court’s own records. Depositions must be re-ordered from court reporters at $3 to $5 per page. Discovery materials must be re-requested from opposing counsel. Client correspondence must be reconstructed from email archives if they exist. Expert reports must be re-obtained from the experts, who may charge again for their time.

The cost to reconstruct the firm’s active case files alone can easily exceed $200,000. The archived files — closed matters that the firm is ethically obligated to retain — may be irreplaceable. Without adequate valuable papers coverage, these costs come directly out of the firm’s pocket during a period when it is also losing income from the business interruption.

The Architect’s Lost Drawings

An architecture firm specializing in historic preservation maintains original drawings for dozens of projects spanning three decades. Many of these drawings are hand-drafted originals — pen and ink on vellum — that predate the firm’s transition to CAD software. A burst pipe floods the firm’s plan room over a holiday weekend, and water destroys the flat files containing the original drawings.

For active projects, the drawings can be reconstructed from the architect’s memory, field measurements, and any digital scans that exist. This process is expensive — potentially $10,000 to $50,000 per project depending on complexity — but it is possible. For completed projects where the architect who did the original work has retired or passed away, the original drawings may be truly irreplaceable. The building department may have copies of the permitted set, but those are typically reduced-scale reproductions that lack the detail and annotations of the originals.

The firm’s valuable papers claim involves a team of architects spending weeks re-measuring buildings and re-drafting plans, at billing rates of $150 to $300 per hour. The total cost of reconstruction can approach the value of the firm’s entire annual revenue.

The Business Owner’s Historical Records

A family-owned manufacturing company has operated from the same facility for seventy years. The company maintains detailed production records, equipment maintenance logs, supplier agreements, and customer specifications in filing cabinets throughout the plant. A wildfire destroys the facility and everything in it.

The production records are needed to fulfill warranty obligations, respond to product liability claims, and demonstrate compliance with regulatory requirements. Equipment maintenance logs document the service history of machinery that may need to be replaced with equivalent equipment for insurance purposes. Supplier agreements establish pricing and terms that must be renegotiated. Customer specifications define the products the company manufactures and the tolerances it must meet.

Without these records, the company cannot simply resume operations in a new facility. It must reconstruct its institutional knowledge from the ground up — contacting customers, suppliers, and equipment manufacturers to re-establish the information that was lost. This process takes months and costs tens of thousands of dollars in staff time, consultant fees, and administrative expense.

How to Value What Has Been Lost

Valuing a valuable papers loss is unlike valuing any other category of property. You are not determining the market value of an item or its replacement cost at a store. You are estimating the cost of a research-and-reconstruction project that may take months to complete, involve multiple professionals, and produce results that are at best approximate reproductions of the originals.

The cost of reconstruction typically includes:

• Professional labor: Attorneys, architects, engineers, accountants, and other professionals who must recreate work product at their standard billing rates. An architect redrafting plans at $200 per hour for 100 hours generates $20,000 in reconstruction costs for a single project.
• Research and retrieval: Obtaining copies of documents from courts, government agencies, title companies, and other third-party repositories. Court filings may cost $0.50 to $1.00 per page to copy. Title searches can run $500 to $2,000 each.
• Data re-entry: Manually re-entering information that existed only in paper form. This is particularly expensive for businesses with decades of accumulated records.
• Expert consultation: Specialists who can help identify what was lost and determine the most efficient path to reconstruction. A records management consultant may charge $150 to $250 per hour.
• Reprographic costs: Physical reproduction of drawings, maps, and other large-format documents. Architectural reprographics can cost $5 to $50 per sheet depending on size and quality.
• Administrative overhead: Staff time spent coordinating the reconstruction effort, corresponding with third parties, and verifying the accuracy of reconstructed records.

One of the most challenging aspects of valuing a valuable papers loss is that you must reconstruct your knowledge of what was lost from memory. If the fire destroyed everything, how do you know what was in the filing cabinet? This is where pre-loss documentation becomes invaluable — and where most policyholders discover they have none.

Common Insurer Disputes

Valuable papers claims generate a predictable set of disputes between policyholders and insurers. Understanding these common battlegrounds helps you anticipate the arguments and prepare your claim accordingly.

“Those Are Not Valuable Papers”

Insurers sometimes argue that certain documents do not qualify as “valuable papers and records” under the policy definition. They may contend that routine business correspondence, internal memos, or ordinary administrative files lack the intrinsic value necessary to trigger the coverage. The policy definition — “inscribed, printed or written documents, manuscripts or records” — is broad, but insurers will test its boundaries. The key question is usually whether the document has value beyond the cost of the physical medium, and whether the policyholder can demonstrate that value through the cost of reconstruction.

“You Could Have Reconstructed Them for Less”

Insurers frequently challenge the costof reconstruction, arguing that the policyholder used unnecessarily expensive methods, hired professionals at above-market rates, or reconstructed documents that were not actually needed for ongoing operations. This mirrors the disputes that arise in building repair claims, where insurers second-guess the scope and cost of the contractor’s work.

The response to this argument is straightforward: the coverage pays the actual cost to research, replace, or restore the lost records. If the policyholder hired qualified professionals at standard rates and reconstructed documents that were genuinely needed, the insurer should pay the bill. The insurer does not get to dictate the cheapest possible reconstruction method if that method produces inferior results.

“Digital Copies Existed”

If the lost documents existed in digital form elsewhere — on a backup drive, in cloud storage, or in an email archive — the insurer will argue that no reconstruction was necessary because the information was not actually lost. This is a legitimate defense when it applies. If you can download the documents from a backup server, the cost of reconstruction is the cost of the download, not the cost of recreating the documents from scratch.

The dispute becomes more nuanced when the digital copies are incomplete, outdated, or in a format that requires significant effort to convert back to usable documents. A scanned image of an architectural drawing is not the same as a CAD file — the scan cannot be edited, dimensioned, or used for construction. Restoring usable documents from partial digital copies can still involve substantial professional effort.

“The Documents Were Irreplaceable, So We Owe Only Blank Value”

This is perhaps the most frustrating dispute in valuable papers claims. The insurer acknowledges that the documents were destroyed. It acknowledges that they were valuable. But because the documents cannot be reconstructed from any source — the information is truly gone forever — the insurer invokes the “blank value” provision and pays only the cost of blank paper and materials.

The policyholder’s best response to this argument is twofold. First, challenge whether the documents are truly irreplaceable. Can any portion of the information be reconstructed from other sources — court records, government filings, third-party copies, email correspondence, digital fragments? Complete irreplaceability is rare. Second, document the actual reconstruction efforts you have undertaken. If you have spent money attempting to reconstruct the information — even partially — those costs are covered regardless of whether the reconstruction is complete.

Digital Backup: Essential but Not Sufficient

The most common advice for protecting valuable papers is simple: make copies. Scan everything. Store backups offsite. Use cloud storage. This advice is correct as far as it goes — and it does not go far enough.

Digital backup addresses the information preservation problem but introduces its own set of risks and limitations:

• Format obsolescence: Digital files require specific software to open. Documents created in obsolete formats — WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, early versions of AutoCAD — may not be readable on modern systems without conversion.
• Storage media degradation: Hard drives fail. Optical discs degrade. Magnetic tape deteriorates. A backup that sits on a shelf for ten years may be unreadable when you need it.
• Incomplete scanning: High-quality scanning of large-format documents like architectural drawings requires expensive equipment and careful handling. Quick scans on a flatbed scanner may not capture the detail needed for professional use.
• Metadata loss: Scanning a physical document captures the image but loses the metadata — annotations in margins, sticky notes attached to pages, the organizational structure of the filing system, and the context that comes from physical proximity to related documents.
• Single point of failure: A backup drive stored next to the originals is destroyed in the same fire. Cloud storage requires an internet connection and a functioning account. A ransomware attack can encrypt both the originals and the backups simultaneously.
• Version control: Which scan is current? If the physical document was annotated or updated after it was scanned, the backup is already outdated.

The best practice is a layered approach: maintain the originals, create high-quality digital scans, store physical copies offsite (such as in a safe deposit box), keep digital copies in a geographically separate cloud service, and review the backup system periodically to ensure it is current and accessible.

The Disaster Context: Why This Coverage Matters Most After Catastrophes

Valuable papers losses are most devastating in the aftermath of large-scale disasters — wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes — where entire buildings are destroyed and the occupants are displaced. In these situations, several factors compound the difficulty of a valuable papers claim:

• Total destruction: Unlike a small office fire where some files may survive, a wildfire or major flood destroys everything. There are no partial recoveries, no salvageable fragments, no smoke-damaged-but-readable pages. Everything is gone.
• Displacement and distraction: The policyholder is simultaneously dealing with the loss of their home or business, displacement to temporary housing, and the overwhelming demands of the primary property claim. Valuable papers are an afterthought at best.
• Delayed discovery: It may be weeks or months before the policyholder realizes the full extent of the document loss. The deed is needed when they apply for rebuilding permits. The tax records are needed when they file their return. The insurance policy itself — needed to file the claim — was in the filing cabinet that burned.
• Community-wide impact: When a disaster destroys an entire neighborhood or business district, the third-party sources that might provide copies of lost documents are often affected too. The county recorder’s office may be overwhelmed. The court system may be operating out of temporary facilities. The title company may have lost its own records in the same event.

In the aftermath of a disaster, the policyholder who documented their papers before the loss is in a fundamentally different position from the one who did not. The first policyholder can provide the insurer with a detailed list of what was destroyed and a credible estimate of reconstruction costs. The second policyholder is trying to remember what was in a filing cabinet they last opened six months ago.

For detailed guidance on managing the contents portion of a claim, including personal property inventory methods, see our article on contents claims.

Practical Steps to Protect Valuable Papers Before a Loss

The time to address your valuable papers exposure is before a loss occurs — not after. The following steps apply to both homeowners and business owners:

1. Inventory Your Documents

Walk through your home or office and catalog every category of document you maintain. Do not limit your inventory to what you think is “important” — include everything. You may not realize a document is valuable until you need it and it is gone. For each category, note:

• What types of documents are stored
• Where they are located (which room, which cabinet, which shelf)
• How many files, folders, or boxes exist
• Whether digital copies exist and where they are stored
• An estimate of the professional cost to recreate them if they were destroyed

2. Prioritize and Duplicate

Not all documents require the same level of protection. Prioritize based on replaceability and consequence of loss:

• Critical and irreplaceable: Original wills, deeds, birth certificates, naturalization papers, military discharge papers. These should be stored in a fireproof safe, a bank safe deposit box, or both. Digital copies should exist in multiple locations.
• Critical but replaceable: Tax returns, insurance policies, financial statements, professional licenses. Copies can be obtained from the IRS, your insurer, your financial institution, or the licensing authority — but the process takes time and effort. Keep copies readily accessible.
• Valuable work product: Manuscripts, research notes, architectural drawings, case files. These represent invested professional time and may be expensive to reconstruct. High-quality scans stored offsite provide the best protection.
• Routine records: Utility bills, receipts, correspondence. These have some value for documenting contents claims and proving ownership of personal property, but they are generally the lowest priority for backup.

3. Review Your Insurance Coverage

Check your policy for the following:

• What is the sub-limit for manuscripts, securities, and similar items under your homeowner policy? Is it $1,500 or has your carrier modified it?
• If you have a commercial policy, does it include a valuable papers and records endorsement? What is the limit?
• Does your policy include electronic data coverage? What is the limit, and does it coordinate with your valuable papers coverage?
• Are there any exclusions that could affect your valuable papers claim — such as exclusions for wear and tear, gradual deterioration, or vermin damage?

If the coverage is inadequate, work with your broker to increase your limits or add endorsements. The cost of additional valuable papers coverage is typically modest relative to the exposure — a few hundred dollars per year can buy tens of thousands of dollars in additional protection.

4. Implement a Backup System

For businesses, a comprehensive document backup system should include:

• Regular scanning of all incoming documents to a digital document management system
• Automated backup of digital files to a geographically separate location
• Periodic testing of backup systems to ensure files are recoverable
• A document retention policy that distinguishes between documents that must be kept in original form and those that can be stored digitally
• Fireproof and waterproof storage for documents that must be kept in physical form

For homeowners, the system can be simpler: scan important documents with a smartphone or flatbed scanner, store the scans in a cloud service (Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud), and keep originals of critical documents in a fireproof safe or bank safe deposit box.

5. Document Your Filing System

Take photographs or video of your filing cabinets, bookshelves, and storage areas. Open the drawers and photograph the file labels. This visual record accomplishes two things: it proves what documents existed before the loss, and it helps you reconstruct your memory of what was stored where. After a total loss, this visual inventory may be the only evidence you have of the scope of your document collection.

Filing a Valuable Papers Claim

When you file a valuable papers claim, approach it as a reconstruction project rather than a simple inventory exercise. The insurer needs to understand three things: what was lost, what it will cost to reconstruct, and what cannot be reconstructed at all.

• Categorize the loss: Group your lost documents by type — legal, financial, professional, personal. For each category, describe the general nature and volume of the documents destroyed.
• Identify reconstruction sources: For each category, identify where copies or source information might exist. Courts keep copies of filed documents. Government agencies retain recorded instruments. Banks and financial institutions maintain records. Professional colleagues may have copies of shared work product.
• Estimate reconstruction costs: For each category, provide a credible estimate of the professional time and expense required to reconstruct the documents. Use actual professional billing rates and realistic time estimates. Overestimating damages your credibility; underestimating leaves money on the table.
• Identify irreplaceable items: Be honest about what cannot be reconstructed. Do not claim that easily replaceable documents are irreplaceable — the insurer will investigate, and false claims undermine your entire filing. Conversely, do not concede irreplaceability too quickly. Explore every possible source before accepting that a document is truly gone.
• Document as you reconstruct: Keep detailed records of every step in the reconstruction process — every phone call, every records request, every hour of professional time. These records substantiate your claim and demonstrate the actual cost of the loss.

The Intersection with Other Coverages

Valuable papers losses rarely occur in isolation. They are almost always part of a larger property loss that involves multiple coverage components. Understanding how valuable papers coverage interacts with other parts of your policy is important for maximizing your total recovery.

• Contents coverage: The physical containers — filing cabinets, bookshelves, storage boxes, binders — are covered as personal property or business personal property. Do not include the cost of replacement furniture in your valuable papers claim; it belongs in the contents claim.
• Business interruption: If the loss of records contributes to a business shutdown or slowdown, the resulting income loss may be covered under business interruption coverage. The reconstruction period may extend the business interruption period of restoration.
• Extra expense:Costs incurred to expedite the reconstruction — such as hiring temporary staff, paying premium rates for rush document retrieval, or renting equipment to accelerate scanning — may fall under extra expense coverage rather than valuable papers coverage.
• Special limits: In a homeowner policy, the special limits of liability affect not only manuscripts but also securities, stamps, and similar items that may be stored alongside your valuable papers. Make sure every category is claimed under the correct sub-limit or coverage.

Key Takeaways

Valuable papers and records coverage is one of the most overlooked and misunderstood components of both homeowner and commercial property insurance. The following principles should guide your approach:

• The value of a document is the cost of the information it contains, not the cost of the paper it is printed on. Coverage responds to the cost of researching and reconstructing lost information.
• Homeowner policies provide minimal coverage for manuscripts and similar items — typically $1,500 under the standard HO-3 sub-limits. Homeowners with significant document collections need endorsements or separate coverage.
• Commercial valuable papers coverage (CP 04 70) provides dedicated limits and pays the actual cost of reconstruction — but it pays only blank value for truly irreplaceable documents.
• Electronic data is not the same as valuable papers under most policy forms. The transition from paper to digital records can create coverage gaps if the electronic data coverage does not match the valuable papers coverage that was replaced.
• Digital backup is essential but not sufficient. Backups must be tested, updated, stored offsite, and maintained in accessible formats.
• Pre-loss documentation — photographing your files, inventorying your records, and maintaining a list of what exists and where — dramatically improves your ability to file a complete and credible claim.
• Valuable papers claims require a project management approach: categorize the loss, identify reconstruction sources, estimate costs, track expenses, and document every step.

The documents that define your life and your business — your deeds, your contracts, your professional work product, your family history — deserve the same attention and protection as the building that houses them. Review your coverage, implement a backup system, and do not wait for a disaster to discover that your most important information was uninsured.