10. A Square Peg in a Round Hole: a laptop gets fried when the wrong charger gets plugged into its power port
9. Double Data Recovery: A foolproof redundant backup scheme fails when somebody accidentally overwrites data on a set of six drives stored in a fireproof safe
8. Keeping the memories alive: Kroll saves precious memories when they recover the only photos remaining of a now-deceased family member from the wiped drive on a stolen (and recovered) laptop
7. Meat the experts: hard disk meets cured ham but data recovery is a complete success
6. Up in the air: a frequent flyer leaves a laptop in an airport coffee bar; subsequent detonation by the bomb squad prevents any data recovery
5. The flying squash: a woman in a hurry to get to work puts her notebook on top of her car to buckle her child into its car seat; when she backs out of the garage, the laptop flies off the car and she runs over the HD; no recovery possible
4. Laptop kitty disaster: when a young kitten uses a laptop for a litter box, Ontrack recovers the HD contents anyway
3. Fire drop: When running out of his burning apartment to escape a fire, a photographer drops his notebook; Ontrack still manages to score a complete recovery of precious photos for charity work
2. The Ants Go Marching In: After a flood in Europe leaves a PC submerged for over two days, its drive is sent to Ontrack for recovery, where an ant is found clinging to a drive head. The data survives, but the ant is a goner.
1. Laptops underwater: To protect his laptop during a beach visit, a man stashes it inside a plastic bag and takes it swimming with him. The bag leaks, but Ontrack manages to recover the data anyway.

I’m glad I’ve never left a laptop atop my car: I’ve sure sent plenty of cups and bottles flying, though. Nice to know occasional moments of lunacy or thoughtlessness never go completely unnoticed. Here’s a case where 80% of incidents result in recovery of some or all the potentially lost data, albeit at considerable cost. Happy New Year!