This report refers to lost data as data which
has become inaccessible to the user.
Confusion arises because the industry often presents "lost data" as
data that has been permanently destroyed, with no hope for recovery. In
reality, our findings reveal that approximately 75% of lost data can be
retrieved. While data may be inaccessible to users, experts have the ability
to recover it using the proper techniques and tools. Unfortunately, hundreds
of thousands of gigabytes (GB) of data have been lost simply because users
were not aware of their options and gave up hope of recovery.
When creating this report, engineers attempted to determine the root causes of
data loss. Because each data loss situation is unique and causes are often
interrelated, finding the root cause was sometimes not possible. These
findings account for only those causes communicated by users or those that
became evident during the recovery process.
For example, a lightning strike may cause a hard drive to suffer electrical
failure. If the user is not aware that lightning struck the building, they
will be unable to report this to the engineer. They will simply be able to
communicate that they are unable to access their data. Except in the most
severe cases, an engineering diagnosis will not show that lightning struck the
drive. Rather, the cause will be recorded as a drive failure, a hardware
malfunction. The root cause may never be known.
Please know that data retrieval from a failed
hard drive is very expensive and clearly the best and most efficient manner of
protecting yourself is by means of off-site backup storage solutions. This
insures that in the event of a failure, you have options for recovery with
minimal amount of expense and downtime.
How does a hard disk drive store data? Hard disk drives store data on one or
more metal oxide platters. These platters, which spin at a rate of 3600-10,000
revolutions per minute, hold magnetic charges. A read/write head attached to
an actuator arm hovers 1-2 micro-inches (one millionth of an inch) above the
surface of the platters. Data flows to and from these heads via electrical
connections. Any force that alters this process may cause data loss to occur.
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