Link: https://old.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/1tsb6uc/what_started_your_data_hoarding_journey/

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/Quirky-Win-8365 on 2026-05-30 20:53:07+00:00.

I originally started keeping backups because I lost a folder of photos that I thought would always be there.

That one mistake turned into external drives, cloud backups, and eventually organizing things properly. Now I save things that I think might disappear in a few years, whether it's photos, documents, websites, or old projects.

Most people think data hoarding starts with massive storage arrays, but I feel like it usually starts with losing something important once.

What was the moment that made you start taking backups seriously?