Who knew that data recovery was like working on a suicide prevention hotline? Check out thislist of tips for dealing with someone whose hard drive has crashed:

“Sometimes I’ll hear someone say, ‘If I can’t get my data back, I don’t know what I’ll do,’ and that’s a tip to me,” she says, as are other statements such as “This is hopeless” or “My life is over.” In every case, Chessen asks the person directly, “Are you considering suicide?”

Wow. Um. You’d think if it was that important, they’d make backups. But if you ever have to deal with frazzled customers (or family members) when their hardware’s let out its magic smoke, perhaps you’ll find these suggestions helpful.

[0] The motto of alt.sysadmin.recovery.