The High Cost of Lost Data

In Case Studies by joseph gilbertLeave a Comment

There are many ways to lose your precious data, but what is the actual cost of lost data?

All of us have probably heard horror stories about crashed computers, stolen laptops, and hard drive failures. We know that people do lose their data all the time, but many of us also believe the data doesn’t have to be lost permanently. With a small investment in the right program or a knowledgeable repair serve, we can be fully restored in minutes. But the truth is that rarely happens. And when it does those individuals experience the high cost of lost data first hand. William (his name has been changed for privacy purposes) is one such example.

Unlike many casual computer users, William had taken steps to protect his data. He had installed a second hard drive on his computer which could be used for back-up, as well as additional storage. The plan seemed to work fine. He had no problems with his computer and used it regularly to work on the photographs he took for clients. The hard drives contained hundreds of these photos, as well as personal documents and other irreplaceable documents, such as client lists, copies of contracts, and contact information for leads. As with most of us who use our computers for work and personal activities, William’s hard drives contained a wealth of data he could not afford to lose.

Unfortunately, William was about to come face to face with the high cost of lost data, despite his precautions. All at once, multiple parts of his computer system crashed: the video card, the motherboard, the RAM, and even both hard drives. Everything failed at the same time and left William with inoperable hardware and the loss of two hard drives’ worth of valuable data.

William’s first concern was the expense of buying a new computer. He knew he needed it for work, but the new hardware was definitely not going to be great news for the budget at this time. Then he realized he had more expensive problems: the high cost of lost data.

Because he desperately needed to retrieve the data from the failed hard drives, he sought out the experienced assistance of a professional. In these types of cases, retrieval is often possible. William was incredibly relieved until he saw the quote for the retrieval. The price was much higher than William had anticipated. How, he wondered, could simply going into the hard drives and getting back the data be so expensive? And, of course, the answer is that the process is far from simple and requires experience. Plus, most people seeking such a service are desperate to have their data restored and that desperation adds to the high cost of lost data.

William ended up paying for the service and did have all of his data fully restored to him. However, he also realizes now that he could have avoided the high cost of lost data simply by being more proactive. He could have backed up his data on an external hard drive regularly, for example. Solutions were available that might have saved him money but instead he learned an important lesson about protecting his valuable data.