[jl6]

On the whole, I consider myself lucky to have lost data due to a badly configured 40GB HDD early in my digital life. I was so aggrieved that it inoculated me against data preservation complacency, and in the subsequent 25 years I haven’t lost a single byte.

As they say, every safety regulation is written in blood.

[bambax]

Many, many moons ago I was finishing a uni. essay on an Amstrad PC that didn't even have a hard drive. The way I worked at the time was, type first, then save to a floppy disk, because the saving operation took something like 5 minutes.

The time was 10 p.m., I was done. I hit save. While the application was writing the file to disk, I decided to move the bulky monitor from one side of my desk to the other. Somehow while doing so I hit the power button (or took the power cord with me, I'm not sure). PC went off while writing operations were still on.

The file could not be recovered, and of course there was no other copy.

I spent the rest of the night recreating the essay from memory, and thinking I had been extremely unlucky.

I've never lost any file again, ever.

[brador]

I had the opposite reaction. Realised the futility of data retention. Stopped backing up and let it flap into the wind if that’s the way the dice rolls. There’s always more data. Losing data now is relieving, like closing a chapter in a good book.

[iberator]

Same here. Only memory remains :)