causes of data loss.

Data is a vital asset to any company. Imagine the value of client databases, technical inventions, industrial information essential for manufacturing, or financial transactions' history of companies. If that data is lost, a huge part of a company's value is gone. On top of that you could also potentially be hit with a large fine.  
Data is increasingly valuable, but also vulnerable. 

The primary causes of data loss are:

1. Human Errors
Human error is one of the most common causes of data loss. There are two kinds of human errors causing data loss: 
- Deleting or formatting files accidentally without having any backups available. 
We often accidentally delete wrong files or overwrite the parts we did not intend to. 
- Causing physical damages by dropping a storage device by accident, spilling liquids on computers (especially laptops) or dropping a device (especially smartphones) into water.

2. Mechanical or electrical (electronic) damages to the hard drive or SSD
Hardware malfunctions are the most common cause of data loss. Hard drives are the most fragile parts of computers; they break down more often than any other device connected to computing. There are so many moving parts inside of hard drives that it is no wonder they break down so easily. Along with hard drives just dying their natural death, there may be numerous manufacturing defects due to the need for storing more and more data on the disks of limited  size. SSDs with the NAND Flash-based chips have a limited lifespan by default since data can only be written on a storage cell inside the chips between approximately 3,000 and 100,000 times during its lifetime.

Memory devices are also often damaged when computers are accidentally dropped.

3. Viruses and Malware
Being connected to the internet has many advantages, however, it also exposes computers to many risks. The majority of viruses affect operational software, misuse internet connection and damage stored data. There are many different types of viruses and frequently data loss is just a side effect of a greater damage done to your operational system. The most dangerous are the attacks targeted to steal and damage business data. Where there is a monetary value, there is also a strong interest to acquire this information. 

4. Power failure
There are two effects of power failures:
- If you lose power while working (writing an article, working with databases or creating graphics), and you haven't saved your work yet, you lose your data.
- Power failures can affect operation systems or hardware of computers. Shutting computers down suddenly may cause problems with rebooting the operation system later and your data might not be accessible anymore. Sudden changes in voltage may damage different computer parts. Most problems can be solved by changing the power supply unit, but other hardware parts of computers (like hard drives or SSDs which are very sensitive to changes in voltage and strong magnetic fields) can be damaged as well. 

5. Natural disasters
Natural disasters such as fires, floods, tornados, and earthquakes are the most uncontrollable, but fortunately also very rare causes of data loss.

6.  Public health crisis
This is a brand new cause of data loss.
The world has changed during the coronavirus pandemic. People and businesses are adjusting to the new reality of social distancing, working from home and using new technologies. 
When people are working from home, they can experience many disruptions, from loneliness to interruptions from family, pets, even delivery people. There can also be technology hiccups from new hardware or video call/meeting apps to internet outage and unstable and slow internet connection. People can experience computer, laptop, tablet, or mobile phone breaks, viruses, hacker attacks and cyber security threats. 
During a pandemic, technicians and maintainers may not be able to get to your site as normal and repair devices that need maintenance. Even the supply lines to receive parts or materials may be adversely impacted. 
Reopening the coronavirus economy gradually with safety precautions suggests using technology to limit human contact and reduce interactions. This will bring new challenges as living with COVID-19 will become our new normal as a society.
All these disruptions and changes, especially when combined, can lead to critical data loss. Therefore, backup and having a data recovery plan have become more important than ever before. 

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Kotar Data Recovery has been helping many individuals and businesses to restore their critical data and continue operations as seamlessly as possible.