Imagine an all-too-common scenario. Dana is a college student putting the finishing touches on her senior thesis. Suddenly, her screen goes dark. She tries to restart her laptop and… nothing.

In a panic she calls her dad, who set the computer up for her before she left for college. Unable to access her PC, he isn’t much help, other than to direct her to the computer repair shop on campus. Unsurprisingly, they inform her that her hard drive has failed. Some of the data may be recoverable, but no guarantees. And of course they have a backlog – it will be another week before they can get to it. Dana’s thesis is due tomorrow, and she’s still not sure if any of it still exists.

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