Backup drives are cheap. A set of data out of millions of choices is irreplaceable.
Being a fan of sci-fi audiobooks, sucks to hear that, but the guy should’ve known to back up everything regularly to multiple sources. His laptop could’ve crashed instead of being stolen, and there’s no guarantee of the data being recoverable (BleachBit not withstanding).
It never ceases to amaze that people who are so brilliant can be so utterly stupid. I’m paranoid about data loss and have multiple backup strategies...and that’s only for family photos, music, videos, movies...not the secrets to the universe.