Re: I refuse to do backups - on principle
I'd point out that nowhere in the story does it suggest the files in question weren't on a server. No one in a company big enough to have an IT department backs up users' desktops except as occasional exceptions to their backup policy for exceptional machines (we back up the one that has the ID badge printer and software for instance). Who has that kind of storage to throw away?
As for PST files, my alternative is a trash can. In my experience most people who have a need for PST files are saving emails that no one needs anymore. The prime example around here had three PST files because he'd run into the 4gb max file size in FAT32 when trying to store them on a flash drive (and blamed IT for it when he had to have multiple files, but that's another story). Looking at them it was pretty easy to tell the man had never deleted a file in his life. He still had emails from 1994 talking about whose turn it was to bring snacks when he retired last year.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
