Saturday, December 08, 2007

Most unusual data disaster horror stories for 2007

December 06, 2007 (Computerworld Australia) -- An ant-infested hard drive and a failing parachute top a list of data disaster horror stories for 2007.

The list, provided by Kroll Inc.'s Ontrack Data Recovery unit, illustrates some of the strangest and wackiest things that people put electronic storage devices through on a regular basis.

Putting drives in the washing machine. Using oil to stop them from squeaking. These are just two examples of the user bloopers the company's engineers nominated for inclusion on the list. Remarkably, Kroll data recovery specialists were able to recover the data in both instances.

This year, Kroll's engineers said the company has seen more damaged portable devices than ever before.

One woman called to complain that she had "washed all her data away." Her USB stick had been through a cycle in her washing machine and -- surprise! -- she couldn't retrieve any data from it.

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