Sorry to hear about your computer.
I usually upgrade my computer every 2-3 years after the warranty expires. This is something I've done since I god my first PC.
I'm always keeping my work data on 2 HDD's and I regularly burn DVDs, which is pretty safe but annoying as hell.
I'm planning to buy a 64 GB usb stick sometime in the near future, and keep all my data on it instead of burning all those DVDs
Sure, it's unpleasant when these kind of things happen, but I'm always prepared.