{"id":16786,"date":"2018-05-26T14:40:17","date_gmt":"2018-05-26T12:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/non-categorise\/data-loss-the-most-common-causes\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T15:06:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T13:06:46","slug":"data-loss-the-most-common-causes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/blog\/data-loss-the-most-common-causes\/","title":{"rendered":"Data loss: the most common causes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6057 size-full\" title=\"data loss\" src=\"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2.1.jpg.png\" alt=\"cause-loss-data\" width=\"600\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2.1.jpg.png 600w, https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2.1.jpg-300x125.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>The most rigorous procedures and the most effective security devices cannot completely eliminate the risk of data loss. If the company thinks it can solve the most common scenarios, where does it draw the line? <\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Common causes of data loss<\/h2>\n<h3>Human error<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Human error <\/strong>is the most frequent cause of data loss. Humans are simply not infallible, and no user can claim to be immune to operator error.<\/p>\n<p>Loss of alertness, inattention or carelessness are at the root of most of these errors:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Accidental <strong>deletion of<\/strong> files or folders<\/li>\n<li>Inadvertent <strong>overwriting of <\/strong>backups or data<\/li>\n<li><strong>Input errors<\/strong> leading to data corruption<\/li>\n<li>Inadvertent <strong>formatting<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The use by staff of <strong>IT solutions<\/strong> (open-source software, online applications, etc.) <strong>not controlled or authorized<\/strong> by the company is also a source of vulnerability. Generally speaking, any IT practices outside the established procedures can lead to the loss or alteration of data.<\/p>\n<h3>Accidents<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Accidental causes<\/strong> cannot be completely reduced or anticipated because they are so numerous and unpredictable:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>External causes<\/strong> ranging from simple falling equipment to natural disasters (lightning, floods, etc.) or accidental disasters (fires, etc.).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Internal<\/strong> hardware <strong>failure<\/strong> (hard disk crash, component failure, etc.) or software <strong>failure<\/strong> (driver conflicts, unexpected shutdowns, etc.).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Software failures<\/strong> can sometimes be handled in-house, depending on their nature and severity. However, <strong>mechanical and electronic failures<\/strong> often require the intervention of a specialized service provider. The most frequent case being the opening of a hard disk, this operation must be carried out in a <strong>clean room<\/strong> to prevent particles from damaging the magnetic tracks.<\/p>\n<h3>Malice<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Computer malware <\/strong>is constantly <strong>expanding<\/strong> and <strong>evolving<\/strong>. It presents companies with constantly renewed challenges.<\/p>\n<p>Most <strong>viruses<\/strong> and <strong>malware<\/strong> circulate indiscriminately, with the aim of corrupting a computer system, deleting data&#8230; Rigorous computer procedures and security devices (firewalls, anti-virus software&#8230;) can be enough to prevent them.<\/p>\n<p>However, <strong>intentional<\/strong>, <strong>targeted<\/strong> computer malware is harder to anticipate, and its consequences can be far more critical:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Hacking<\/strong>, <strong>sabotage <\/strong>or <strong>computer attacks<\/strong> emanating from deliberate human actions, sometimes by a member of staff.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cryptolockers<\/strong> and <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/blog\/ransomware-raid-failures-businesses-face-critical-scenarios\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>ransomware<\/strong><\/a> encrypt data and require companies to pay a ransom to recover it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Aging<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Computer ageing<\/strong> is becoming increasingly rapid, due to the acceleration of technological innovation and progress. <strong>Lack of anticipation<\/strong> can lead to data loss:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Outdatedness<\/strong> resulting in hardware incompatibility with the rest of the IT environment or loss of access to data.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Obsolescence<\/strong>, whether programmed or not, can lead to mechanical or software failure, loss of access or outright destruction of data.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Lack of updates<\/strong> can lead to the same consequences as hardware obsolescence, but also to data corruption.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Nevertheless,<strong>anticipation<\/strong> does not eliminate all scenarios. For example, <strong>transfer <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/data-migration-expert\/\"><strong>migration<\/strong><\/a> or <strong>conversion of<\/strong> data are unavoidable deadlines for the company. Problems of loss or alteration can arise during these delicate operations.<\/p>\n<h2>Consider the possibility of in-house recovery<\/h2>\n<p>From the accidental deletion of a file resolved by a simple Ctrl+Z to a server fire that leaves little to the imagination, where does a company&#8217;s ability to resolve data loss end?<\/p>\n<p>Even the most frequent and trivial scenarios should prompt him to ask himself these questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>How big is the loss?<\/strong> The extent of data loss is often underestimated. The company may even be unaware of it, and only detect the destruction, alteration or loss of access to certain data much later.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Can the repair\/restoration\/recovery be carried out in-house?<\/strong> In the same way as it is difficult to measure the extent of the loss, it is not only difficult to predict the effectiveness of an in-house intervention, but also to avoid making the situation worse: opening a hard disk, using unsuitable recovery software, restoring an out-of-date backup&#8230; can exacerbate losses and make any other recovery operation impossible.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button aligncenter\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-blanc-color has-orange-background-color has-text-color has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/free-quotation\/\">Get a free quote<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The most rigorous procedures and the most effective security devices cannot completely eliminate the risk of data loss. If the company thinks it can solve the most common scenarios, where does it draw the line? Common causes of data loss Human error Human error is the most frequent cause of data loss. Humans are simply [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":17986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133,69],"tags":[105],"ppma_author":[136,146],"class_list":["post-16786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-data-recovery-en","tag-2-1-en","author-benoit-jaunet","author-benoit-jaunet-en"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Data loss : The most frequent causes - DATABACK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Even the strictest security can&#039;t erase every data-loss risk. Discover the most common causes\u2014and the point where calling recovery experts pays off.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/blog\/data-loss-the-most-common-causes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Data loss : The most frequent causes - DATABACK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Even the strictest security can&#039;t erase every data-loss risk. Discover the most common causes\u2014and the point where calling recovery experts pays off.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/blog\/data-loss-the-most-common-causes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Databack\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-26T12:40:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-30T13:06:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/data-loss.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"267\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Benoit Jaunet, Benoit Jaunet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Benoit Jaunet\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Data loss : The most frequent causes - DATABACK","description":"Even the strictest security can't erase every data-loss risk. Discover the most common causes\u2014and the point where calling recovery experts pays off.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/blog\/data-loss-the-most-common-causes\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Data loss : The most frequent causes - DATABACK","og_description":"Even the strictest security can't erase every data-loss risk. Discover the most common causes\u2014and the point where calling recovery experts pays off.","og_url":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/blog\/data-loss-the-most-common-causes\/","og_site_name":"Databack","article_published_time":"2018-05-26T12:40:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-06-30T13:06:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":400,"height":267,"url":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/data-loss.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Benoit Jaunet, Benoit Jaunet","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Benoit Jaunet","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/blog\/data-loss-the-most-common-causes\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/blog\/data-loss-the-most-common-causes\/"},"author":{"name":"Benoit Jaunet","@id":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/160c17ae25712502025ccd4cbdd63b44"},"headline":"Data loss: the most common causes","datePublished":"2018-05-26T12:40:17+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-30T13:06:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/blog\/data-loss-the-most-common-causes\/"},"wordCount":626,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/blog\/data-loss-the-most-common-causes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/data-loss.png","keywords":["2.1"],"articleSection":["BLOG","Data recovery"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/blog\/data-loss-the-most-common-causes\/","url":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/blog\/data-loss-the-most-common-causes\/","name":"Data loss : The most frequent causes - DATABACK","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/blog\/data-loss-the-most-common-causes\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/blog\/data-loss-the-most-common-causes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/data-loss.png","datePublished":"2018-05-26T12:40:17+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-30T13:06:46+00:00","description":"Even the strictest security can't erase every data-loss risk. Discover the most common causes\u2014and the point where calling recovery experts pays off.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/blog\/data-loss-the-most-common-causes\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/blog\/data-loss-the-most-common-causes\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/blog\/data-loss-the-most-common-causes\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/data-loss.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/data-loss.png","width":400,"height":267,"caption":"perte de donn\u00e9es"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/blog\/data-loss-the-most-common-causes\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"R\u00e9cup\u00e9ration de donn\u00e9es","item":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Data loss: the most common causes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/","name":"Databack","description":"Laboratoire fran\u00e7ais de traitement de donn\u00e9es sensibles et volumineuses","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/#organization","name":"Datenabruf","url":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/favicon.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/favicon.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Datenabruf"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/160c17ae25712502025ccd4cbdd63b44","name":"Benoit Jaunet","description":"Beno\u00eet Jaunet rejoint DATABACK en 2010 en tant que charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires. Interlocuteur privil\u00e9gi\u00e9 des clients particuliers comme professionnels, il joue un r\u00f4le central dans l\u2019\u00e9valuation des situations de perte de donn\u00e9es, l\u2019orientation des demandes vers les \u00e9quipes techniques et le suivi des projets de r\u00e9cup\u00e9ration. Gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 une connaissance fine des contraintes m\u00e9tiers et des contextes techniques vari\u00e9s, il contribue au quotidien \u00e0 \u00e9tablir une relation de confiance avec les clients et \u00e0 garantir un accompagnement clair, r\u00e9actif et transparent tout au long du processus.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/benoit-jaunet-1604847a\/"]}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":136,"user_id":12,"is_guest":0,"slug":"benoit-jaunet","display_name":"Benoit Jaunet","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/benoit-databack-scaled.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/benoit-databack-scaled.jpg"},"author_category":"1","first_name":"Benoit","last_name":"Jaunet","user_url":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/benoit-jaunet-1604847a\/","job_title":"CHARG\u00c9 D'AFFAIRES","description":"Beno\u00eet Jaunet rejoint <strong>DATABACK<\/strong> en 2010 en tant que charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires. Interlocuteur privil\u00e9gi\u00e9 des clients particuliers comme professionnels, il joue un r\u00f4le central dans l\u2019\u00e9valuation des situations de perte de donn\u00e9es, l\u2019orientation des demandes vers les \u00e9quipes techniques et le suivi des projets de r\u00e9cup\u00e9ration.\r\n\r\nGr\u00e2ce \u00e0 une connaissance fine des contraintes m\u00e9tiers et des contextes techniques vari\u00e9s, il contribue au quotidien \u00e0 \u00e9tablir une relation de confiance avec les clients et \u00e0 garantir un accompagnement clair, r\u00e9actif et transparent tout au long du processus."},{"term_id":146,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"benoit-jaunet-en","display_name":"Benoit Jaunet","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16786"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19628,"href":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16786\/revisions\/19628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16786"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.databack.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=16786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}