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.
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
