Link: https://old.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/1vazv2o/what_started_your_data_hoarding_journey/

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/Electronic-Egg-3342 on 2026-07-30 17:16:06+00:00.

Was there a specific moment that made you realize you should start saving everything? Maybe you lost important files, had a cloud service shut down, discovered an old archive, or just enjoyed building a collection over time.
For me it was losing an external drive years ago. Most of what was on it wasn't critical, but there were enough old photos and random files that I still wish I had. Ever since then I've been much more careful about keeping backups and somehow that slowly turned into saving a lot more than I probably need. Curious if others had a tragedy start their journey or just interest.