Google Lost Data After Lightning Hit Its Data Center in Belgium

By Alissa Greenberg

August 20, 2015

Despite the popular saying, lightning does strike twice, or even four times — as it did at a Google data center in Belgium last Thursday, causing problems for the next several days and leading to permanent data loss for a small percentage of unlucky users.

The problem began when the facility lost power briefly during one of the late-summer thunderstorms common in the area. That caused problems with reading or writing data for about five percent of disks in the data center. Most were fixed but data on .000001% of the center’s total disk space was lost. “In these cases, full recovery is not possible,” the company said in a statement.

Google accepts full responsibility for the incident and says it is making upgrades to prevent something like this from happening again.

The Businesses That Make Up Google’s New Umbrella Company, Alphabet

<b>Google X</b>: Google’s most ambitious projects, such as its self-driving cars, often begin in this secretive research department

Google X: Google’s most ambitious projects, such as its self-driving cars, often begin in this secretive research department

Tony Avela—AP

<b>Nest</b>: The smart thermostat company that Google bought for $3.2 billion in 2014 is the centerpiece in Google’s plan to control the smart homes of the future.

Nest: The smart thermostat company that Google bought for $3.2 billion in 2014 is the centerpiece in Google’s plan to control the smart homes of the future.

Aya Brackett—Nest

<b>Fiber</b>: Google’s high-speed broadband Internet service is now available in three cities, with plans to expand to six more in the coming months.

Fiber: Google’s high-speed broadband Internet service is now available in three cities, with plans to expand to six more in the coming months.

George Frey—Reuters

<b>Ventures</b>: Google’s venture capital arm already has a church-and-state separation from the company’s other endeavors, regularly investing in companies that compete with Google products. That line of separation should be even more stark thanks to the restructuring.

Ventures: Google’s venture capital arm already has a church-and-state separation from the company’s other endeavors, regularly investing in companies that compete with Google products. That line of separation should be even more stark thanks to the restructuring.

Tripplaar Kristoffer—Sipa USA

<b>Calico</b>: Google launched this life sciences company in 2013 with the aim of extending human life. The company is devoted to long-term research that may not come to fruition for decades.

Calico: Google launched this life sciences company in 2013 with the aim of extending human life. The company is devoted to long-term research that may not come to fruition for decades.

Google/AP

<b>Capital</b>: This investment arm focuses on late-state growth companies, and like Google Ventures, operates independently of Google’s consumer-product businesses.

Capital: This investment arm focuses on late-state growth companies, and like Google Ventures, operates independently of Google’s consumer-product businesses.

Ventures and Capital

Tony Avelar—Bloomberg/Getty Images

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