"Then the owner is storing stuff here," he muttered.
People are storing stuff they really need on their hard drives, and SpinRite is, as you say, the best utility for getting it back.
We do maintain an internal file collaboration server to store critical stuff.
When I bought my first home, it had a big barn in the back, and I said, this is perfect to store stuff.
But you can store stuff, play boardgames when the weather's bad and, all-importantly, brew a nice cup of tea.
Mostly they're just used to store stuff in, repositories for junk.
"It's just a loft where they store stuff."
A crystal that is mostly empty is useful for storing stuff - hydrogen, in particular.
The equipment room also includes cubby holes where players and staff can store stuff.
Somewhere in your house you're storing stuff you don't need.