According to data recovery company OnTrack, 2007 saw more reports than ever of ‘whacky' computer problems caused by water, ant infestations and spilt acid, to name a few.
Most sins were reported by users of mobile technology, with an increased number of people reporting dropping phones and cameras in the sea, in toilets or even in a bowl of baby food.
OnTrack kept a list of data recovery service calls it received throughout the year and provided its favourites for publication:
10. A woman called Ontrack Data Recovery engineers complaining she had ‘washed all her data away'. Her USB stick had been through a cycle in her washing machine and unsurprisingly she couldn't retrieve any data from it.
9. Rushing home from work to feed his baby daughter, an over-enthusiastic father forgot about the USB stick in his top pocket. As he lent over the high-chair, the device fell in a dish of sticky apple puree.
8. A fisherman thought that he would take his laptop along to play a few games whilst waiting for a bite in his rowing boat. As he stood up, both he and the laptop went overboard, taking all his data to the bottom of the lake.
