Data is commonly lost during software crashes and hardware failures. Many people have stories of mistakenly or accidentally deleting very important files. Power surges, electrical storms and even the installation of new hardware components have led to crashes and deletion of data. Pressing the wrong command keys, saving the wrong document and going for long periods without saving your work may all lead to the loss of important files or work. Your computer also lives in an increasingly hostile environment.
Many people have stories of losing data or having other problems due to viruses.
Today's viruses, often carried by e-mail, are increasingly devastating and produce unwelcome and unhappy results. As people increasingly attach to the Internet on a full-time basis, computer systems have become increasingly vulnerable to outside intruders who may vandalize your system, change data or even delete files for the fun of it. Some firms have even experienced data deletion, data corruption or other problems caused by disgruntled employees. In each of these scenarios, you may be left with corrupted, missing or inaccessible data. Don't forget that having a reliable backup of your data is important at times other than when you actually lose data.