If you regularly sync your Treo to your computer, you might not see the value of online backup. After all, you've got your crucial information saved already, so you're protected in case your handheld gets lost or broken.

But imagine that a flakey app forces you to perform a hard reset on your Treo and all your data is overwritten. Because you're away from home-and away from your computer—for a few days, restoring that information the easy way isn't possible. Suddenly you're stranded without your crucial contacts. If you'd installed and run BackupBuddy.Net, you could simply re-download the BackupBuddy app from the Web site and restore your databases.

This scenario might have sounded a little far-fetched to us if it hadn't happened just that way on a recent weekend getaway. We desperately needed a business contact's number, which should have been on the Treo we were testing but wasn't because we'd been forced to do a hard reset. After Googling for the number and having no luck, we remembered BackupBuddy.Net, which we'd tested earlier that week. A few minutes later, all our information was restored and we were able to make the call.

BackupBuddy.Net offers a free 14-day trial, so there's no risk in giving it a look. You can download the app to your desktop and sync it to your Treo, or just download it directly from your Treo and skip a step. It's a small app (292k) and installs quickly. First time users will be prompted to create a password for your account. It then saves the information for the primary four Palm apps: Contacts, Calendar, Memo, and Tasks.

After your first backup, you can easily create a schedule so that BackupBuddy.Net saves your information daily at a convenient time, probably in the middle of the night, or else continuously saves your information by working in the background-performing what's called a trickle download-so that no information can ever be lost.

The interface is extremely easy to learn, with only a large Backup button, then two smaller button for scheduling backups and restoring information. You can view your log from a pulldown menu, to confirm that your data was backed-up correctly.

A subscription to BackupBuddy.Net costs $34.95 for 12 months and $19.95 for 6 months, although those prices are currently lowered to $29.95 and $16.95, respectively. We're not sure how long the sale will go on, as it was supposed to end June 1, but the prices are still advertised on the site.

Sometime later this summer, the company will release a higher-end version called BackupBuddy.Net Professional (currently in beta), which will back-up not just those four key apps, but every application on your Treo and the data that goes with them. With it, you'll be able to restore your Treo completely without a computer.

As an unexpected bonus, the company has announced that anyone who purchases a subscription to BackupBuddy.Net prior to Professional being released will be able to get a complimentary upgrade when the new version is ready. That's a good deal, and it could turn out to be a real lifesaver for some users. Hey, you never know when you're going to need to perform a hard reset.