Member Avatar for Abrienne

There can various actions that take us to the cause of Data Loss,

Intentional Action

*Intentional deletion of a file or program*

Unintentional Action

*Accidental deletion of a file or program
Misplacement of CDs or Memory sticks
Administration errors
Inability to read unknown file format*

I really found this Wiki Content useful: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_loss

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As notes, data loss can come from many directions. To build on that: some common but often overlooked threats are hardware/electronics failure, firmware or driver bugs that corrupt disks, ransomware that encrypts many files at once, silent filesystem corruption, and sudden power events. Those require different countermeasures than simple user error.

’s neighbour’s loss is a good illustration: local-only copies (one PC, one drive) are vulnerable to a single catastrophic event. ’s point about user attitudes matters too — the most reliable protection is automation that removes the “I’ll do it later” problem.

A minimal, practical plan to reduce total loss risk:

  1. Decide what must be recoverable (documents, source, project files, license keys).
  2. Make an immediate copy of those items to a new external drive and to a cloud backup that retains history (not just a two-way sync).
  3. Configure scheduled full-disk images (weekly) plus continuous or daily file-level backups for active work folders.
  4. Keep at least one copy physically separate from the machine (off-site or air-gapped).
  5. Back up and securely store any encryption keys, license keys and configuration exports. Test restores by recovering a file and, occasionally, booting a recovery image.

A few cautions and clarifications: RAID or mirroring is not a backup — it protects hardware failure but not accidental deletion or ransomware. Many sync services will mirror deletions across devices. Versioning and retention policies are essential to recover from encryption attacks or mistaken edits. Regularly verify backups and make restore drills part of routine maintenance. Following these steps makes total loss far less likely.

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Member Avatar for rproffitt

So the old maxim that "we only lose what we don't backup" is still true?

I'm running into newer users of PCs, Apple, smart phones and more that feel this is a dinosaur of a problem and the fault is not theirs.

Member Avatar for JamesCherrill

My neighbour's son is a freelance 3D graphics artist. He had two years work on his PC when someone in the flat below fell asleep with cigarette in his hand, and burned down the building. That was last month. He had no backups.
He justifies it by saying how rare house fires are. I asked if whether it would be any better if someone stole his PC - not a rare ocurrence.
He's now rebuilding his models as best he can from memory.

He still has no backup plan.

Edited by JamesCherrill
commented: When you lose, don't lose the lesson. Right? +14
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