Let me first start off by painting you a picture of a fictitious scenario that is all too real:

It’s a late night on the computer. The severe thunderstorm you’ve been anticipating all evening has finally knocked on your front door and wants to party. You know you should probably shutdown your computer and call it a night, but it has been months since you have been this productive; you decide to continue what you’re doing. Several hours later and that thunderstorm is still hanging around; he actually invited hail, high speed winds, and that tree in your backyard to come crash your place. A quick burst of light from outside your windows fills your room; simultaneously you turn around and take off your headphones when you’re blasted by thunderous decibels. The power goes out. By instinct you find yourself fleeing towards your bed to dig underneath the covers. The comfort puts you to sleep peacefully. The next morning the bright sunlight awakes you; it’s a beautiful day outside but your first move is to go turn-on your computer … “No bootable device — insert boot disk and press any key” … It looks like that thunderstorm and his friends not only crashed your house, but they also crashed your hard-drive.

Like I said, this was a fictitious scenario, but the archetype of data-loss is all too real.