Evidence Promoting Good Data Management¶

Anecdotal Tales Of Lost Data¶

Recovery of Overwritten Hard Disk Data¶

5 October 2005 Linux Forums - http://tinyurl.com/8t7uaop

Hi, a friend of mine just overwrote two months of her PhD thesis with
an older version. I know recovery of overwritten data is possible, but
wonder if I'd need special hardware to do it. Does anyone know
something about this ?
Thank You.

Stolen laptop had PhD research¶

19 March 2008 Surrey Leader - http://tinyurl.com/9hmtlv4

Thirty-fve minutes spent in Langley’s Willowbrook Shopping Centre cost
a Surrey woman much more than she had anticipated.
Langley RCMP say that while she was shopping from 1-1:35 p.m. last
Monday, someone broke into her vehicle and stole a number of items,
including a Mac iBook laptop containing the research she had compiled
as she worked towards her PhD.
“All that information was on that computer and she has no back-up
fle,” said Langley RCMP spokesman Cpl. Brenda Marshall.

Happiness is the return of a stolen computer, with data intact¶

27 May 2010 The Press, NZ - http://tinyurl.com/38sznnh

Never has a man been so happy to see a computer full of data
spreadsheets.

Claudio De Sassi's world fell apart when a car containing almost three
years work towards his PhD was stolen two weeks ago.
De Sassi, a Canterbury University academic, could not hide his joy
yesterday as police reunited him with his stolen laptop and backpack.

The Lost Laptop Problem¶

• 2010 Ponemon Institute report for Intel re. US laptops
  • On average, 2.3% of laptops assigned to employees are lost each year
  • In education & research that rises to 3.7%, with 10.8% of laptops being lost before the end of their useful life (~3 years i.e. within 1 PhD of allocation!
  • 75% lost outside the workplace
• Very similar results from 2011 European report!

Intel 2010 - http://tinyurl.com/8c9m4bn

Laptop Reliability¶

• 2011 PC World Laptop Reliability Survey from 63,000 readers:
  • 22.6% had signifcant problems during the product's lifetime
  • Of which...
    • 19% had OS problems ~1 in 25 of all laptops
    • 18% had HDD problems ~1 in 25 of all laptops
    • 10% PSU problems ~1 in 50 of all laptops

PC World 2011 - http://tinyurl.com/876qza5