Hi Virginia,

I don't think there is a hard and fast answer to this question because there
is so much variation on what can be on there and the amount of stuff - and
because many hard disks are not regularly inventoried to DETERMINE what is
on there and how much. In other words, an 800MB HD from 5 years ago is more
expensive because we may no longer have access to the applications that were
installed on it, and the drivers, and the OS, etc. while a 300GB hard disk
is expensive because it has 400 times as much data. So that's the first step
- gain control of the storage by doing an inventory.

Some things I would include on the cost of loss checklist:
- Time required to reinstall: operating systems/patches,
applications/patches, license activation, etc.
- Potential cost to reactivate licenses. For example, the vendor may not let
you reactivate on different hardware, and a replacement hard disk would
certainly qualify. Whether that's good or bad is another discussion, but be
aware there may be a cost (20% of list?)
- Time required to recreate data/documents/records, which will vary
significantly by the nature of the documents and whether they have to be
recreated from scratch or some can be restored from backup. A detailed CAD
drawing or complex contract would be significantly more expensive to
recreate than would, say, a redacted copy of an imaged document for which
the original is still available. If the document was paper, and the original
has been imaged and destroyed, that cost would be higher.
- Time required to restore data/documents/records from backups. This would
be significantly less expensive - if the disk in question has been regularly
backed up. If the files in question are database, or emails, however, the
cost could be significant because the tape has to be restored and then the
data restored.
- Time required to inventory the disk - if not done before it should
certainly be done now so we have a better starting point

There are probably some other costs I'm missing, but this might be a good
starting point.

Cheers,

Jesse Wilkins
CDIA+, LIT, EDP, ICP
IMERGE Consulting
(303) 574-1455 office
(303) 484-4142 fax
[log in to unmask]
http://www.imergeconsult.com
Yahoo!:  jessewilkins8511
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>From: "Benoist, Virginia" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Records Management Program <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Destruction of Hard drive information--Checklist for Cost of Loss
>Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 13:47:59 -0600
>
>Does anyone have a checklist to evaluate cost of loss when the following
>have been destroyed from the harddrive of a computer?
>*       All programs installed
>*       All data
>*       All documents
>
>I am trying to get a breakdown of the value of the loss up to the time
>the programs, data and documents are destroyed, including the cost to
>create.  I am also trying to get a breakdown of the cost to recreate and
>to recover same.
>
>List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
>Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance

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