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Livedrive claims that "52% of computer users lose irreplaceable documents, photos, music and videos every year?".

Is there any published study on that matter?

Sklivvz
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Franck Dernoncourt
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  • I note the marketing claim does not make clear whether the lost items were digital or physical objects. I'm a computer user, if I lose a printed photo this year I suppose I'm part of the 52% then? – Tom Brossman Jan 27 '14 at 12:53

1 Answers1

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Peer reviewed article from 2003:

US businesses use an estimated 76.2 million PCs to aid in the production of goods and services. [...] estimating 4.6 million episodes of severe data loss per year enter image description here

source: "The Cost of Lost Data" David M. Smith, PhD

4.6mln of 76.2mln is 6% per year.

vartec
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    Good start. But, I don't think this is strong evidence for or against the claim. This was about computers and data used by businesses. It was also from 2003 when less people used computers and when people used computers less. These are also only estimates based on data from as old as 2000. It also doesn't say how many *users* had their data lost. Since these are business computers, it's reasonable to believe that individual data loss episodes resulted in more than one *user* losing access to that data. –  Jan 27 '14 at 14:20
  • The quoted article says "severe" data loss, whatever that is. Personally, I experience data loss several times a year. This is usually very minor/inconsequential loss. So, marketing can try their scare tatics. – Les Jan 28 '14 at 15:26
  • The claim was for all computer users, not just businesses. Businesses typically have multiple levels of backup ranging from RAID disk storage to external backup systems. Unfortunately most home users don't realize their hard drive has a finite life span (2-4 years) and have no backup solution at all. – nullmem Jul 11 '14 at 09:32