Data loss happens due to a number of reasons, of which we are largely aware, but fail to take precautions against them. The best precaution is, of course, taking backups while the information is still around.

• Hard disk crash is the single most common way of losing data anywhere. Contrary to popular belief, hard disks are not immortal; in fact, no company so far is willing to guarantee their product beyond five years.
  
  
• The related hardware such as read or write heads may malfunction, the fan may stop, the disk tray may get jammed, or any other moving parts may also stop working.
  
  
• Circuits can be blown due to electrostatic discharge or power surge or power spikes. Incorrect plugging in of cards or any other input or output device may also cause a similar problem.
  
  
• All digital devices are susceptible to damage through water, fire, heat, dust, humidity, moisture and temperature extremes. Some manufacturers of USB devices have claimed that these are water-proof, but it would be wiser not to try it out after buying them.
  
  
• Shock, direct sunlight and mishandling are some other typical ways of data loss through hardware malfunction or damage.
  
  
• Increased demand for digital storage formats has also increased the volume of production, lowered the price and also the quality. Manufacturing defects are another way through which data may be lost.

• The Operating System may crash, taking the data with it. This ideally should not happen at all, but it does for all companies.
  
  
• One may accidentally or maliciously delete a partition or format an entire disk.
  
  
• Overwriting, corruption and fragmentation of files are another way in which all types of digital goods lose their data. Music, video, photographs and media file formats are particularly prone to this.
  
  
• Running the wrong application on an incompatible device, trying to copy large volumes of data into a small space and other such methods also cause data loss.