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What causes data loss?

Among other causes, data loss can be attributed to system or human error, adverse environmental conditions and device failure (see Figure 1 below). Human causes of data loss include intentional or accidental deletion or overwriting of files. Virus damage, operating system or application software bugs, or failed upgrades may also cause data loss. Common physical causes of data loss include power loss or power surge, overheating, electrostatic (static) discharge and any kind of physical damage to the storage device or medium.

Causes of Data Loss

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About Data Loss

6% of all PCs will suffer an episode of data loss in any given year. Given the number of PCs used in US businesses in 1998, that translates to approximately 4.6 million data loss episodes. At a conservative estimate, data loss cost US businesses $11.8 billion in 1998. (The Cost Of Lost Data, David M. Smith)
30% of all businesses that have a major fire go out of business within a year. 70% fail within five years. (Home Office Computing Magazine)
31% of PC users have lost all of their files due to events beyond their control.
34% of companies fail to test their tape backups, and of those that do, 77% have found tape back-up failures.
60% of companies that lose their data will shut down within 6 months of the disaster.
93% of companies that lost their data center for 10 days or more due to a disaster filed for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster. 50% of businesses that found themselves without data management for this same time period filed for bankruptcy immediately. (National Archives & Records Administration in Washington)
American business lost more than $7.6 billion as a result of viruses during first six months of 1999. (Research by Computer Economics)
Companies that aren't able to resume operations within ten days (of a disaster hit) are not likely to survive. (Strategic Research Institute)
Simple drive recovery can cost upwards of $7,500 and success is not guaranteed.

Our service works like regular data backup software, with one important difference. Instead of sending backups to a tape drive or other media attached to the computer, it sends the data securely over the Internet to our backup servers safely offsite.

Our system is completely automatic. In fact, you may even forget it's working. Most businesses put their lives on the line every day and don't realize it. With businesses depending more and more on the data in their computers, proper backups are becoming increasingly critical.

Last Updated (Wednesday, 30 June 2010 21:12)