A number of failures can cause data files to disappear or become corrupted. Symptoms of data loss appear immediately; it causes that panicky sinking feeling in the stomach when previously accessible data is suddenly out of reach. Today more data is being stored in smaller and smaller spaces, with hard drives of 2011 having more than 500 times the capacity of those in 2001. This makes a greater, costlier impact when hardware and software malfunction. Hardware malfunctions alone account for nearly 40% of all data loss.

If the hard drive of a computer isn't spinning or won't work at all, if you hear a scraping or rattling sound, or if an error message lets you know a device is not recognized then the hardware is failing and your data is at risk. You may see file or folder names that are scrambled or disappear. A hard disk may be silent for a long time after you request data by opening a folder or file.

Hard drive damage can be caused by power surges, dust in the computer, crashes, and controller failure. Other problems are caused by human error - accidentally deleted files, damage caused from dropping a device, or spilled liquids. Do-it-yourself repairs by inexperienced people can further destroy the drive and it's cargo of important data. An estimated 32% of data loss is caused by human error.

Although virus protection has become increasingly sophisticated, 7% of all data loss is caused by computer viruses. The computer may display strange and unpredictable behavior that gets more and more pronounced, the screen may go blank, or a taunting message may appear announcing the arrival of the malevolent virus within your hard drive. Once infected, the files will need to be processed by a data retrieval company if they are of substantial value.

Backup should be performed routinely of course but backups don't usually contain all the up-to-date data, the files may be corrupted already, or the hardware and storage media may not be working. Companies rely heavily on their computer systems for accounting, inventory, payroll, and many other time-sensitive activities. Backing up data is critically important but not foolproof, especially if a great amount of data is created daily and some of it is lost.

When the computer systems go down, the operation of a company is bogged down. The potential loss caused by this downtime will motivate business owners to have the best data recovery company they can find to take the case and save the day with advanced technology; established data retrieval services will also have the highest ethics when it comes to handling your confidential information.

Companies that have suffered extensive data loss caused by problems in hard drives, servers, hard disks, tapes, and media devices can find consolation in the fact that there's a good chance that the data can be retrieved in a short period of time. This allows operations to go back to normal after only several days, reducing the loss of productivity. The daily downtime losses for large companies can run in the millions. The data recovery industry is there to bring their computer operations back to life in a short a time as possible.