A new essay by Julian Lucas in The New Yorker argues that even in an era of cloud storage, losing digital data remains both common and expensive.
“Sometimes data-recovery experts can summon lost files from the void,” Lucas writes, underscoring both the possibility—and the uncertainty—of retrieving lost information.
But that recovery often comes at a price. According to the essay, retrieving data from personal devices can cost around $3,000, while more complex enterprise recoveries can run into six figures, particularly in cases involving large systems or cyberattacks.
The scale of the problem has helped fuel demand for firms like DriveSavers, which handles tens of thousands of data-loss inquiries each month.
While these companies can recover files from damaged hardware, corrupted systems, or even partially destroyed devices, success is not guaranteed—and costs can escalate quickly depending on the severity of the damage.
The essay also points to a long-term shift in the economics of computing.
As storage technology improved, hardware became cheaper, but the data stored on it became significantly more valuable.
As DriveSavers co-founder Jay Hagan puts it: “It was like two crossing lines. The cost of drives was going down, and the value of data was going up.”
That shift has turned data loss from a technical inconvenience into a financial and operational risk.
Despite the rise of cloud platforms, data remains vulnerable to failures ranging from hardware damage and syncing errors to accidental deletion and ransomware attacks.
One expert cited in the essay captures the dynamic: “The value of a person’s data is negatively correlated with whether or not they have it.”
Ogbonda Chivumnovu
