I sometimes remember a conversation that's relevant to some current issue. A search will let me know when it happened, who was involved, who actually fixed the problem or what was ordered and when, etc.

to find the messages in the servers.

but for Hillary's 2008 campaign, especially since she was not elected? Or DNC?

don't put anything in an unencrypted email that you wouldn't put onto a postcard.

Even if *you* have deleted an email, it's no guarantee that it was not retained on any of the intermediate servers it passed through on the way to its destination.

(Government emails have very specific retention requirements; most are considered to be official communications, and must be archived as public records.)

I don't think you understand how email works. Copies of the email get stored on other computers. And as others have said, there are legal requirements.

What I wonder, if people really want to keep their email for future references, if they can be transferred to an external drive what will be disconnected at night. Will this make it harder for hackers?

Not that anyone would be interested in my emails, or financial files, but I always turn off the computer (Mac) at night, and when we are out of town I also turn off the modem.

(Though I've read someplace that it is better for the longevity of the computer to keep it at a sleep mode..)

All server transactions are backed up at least once a day, maybe more, to recover data if there's a system crash. Backed up data is archived in special fire proof, water proof facilities. Plus even though you delete your emails and documents from your computer, you're not really deleting the message. You're only erasing the data's address on your hard drive. The data is still there and can be recovered with recovery software.

Since they take up little space, relatively speaking, I never delete emails.

I have emails dating back to 1995.

Why do I have them?

Sometimes I want to comment about a situation or project I was involved in, in my history, and doing a simple email search helps me find more detailed information about it than I could remember.

...I keep them because they are meaningful.

What is actually sad is that 1) we have lost all historical evidence of what Clinton said to her family during her tenure as Sec of State (though it may be reconstructed from looking at the email folders of each of her recipients) and 2) we are so fascinated with looking at what the people behind the scenes in Clinton's circles discussed.

And what's even sadder is that despite we've seen literally tens of thousands of emails of Clinton's inner circles, and even with that, nothing, absolutely nothing has come out that's remotely bad, the Clinton's are still seen as corrupt.

There is a legal record-keeping requirement. If they do fail to preserve them, it can serve as evidence against them in a legal proceeding.

Likewise, Hillary Clinton had a legal obligation to preserve her office-related records and communications, regardless of whether they were on a private system or not.

Public officials and businesses generally HAVE to keep records.

but for election campaigns? Like Hillary's 2008 and the DNC, that I mentioned in my op?

There's an awful lot of business involved in political campaigns.

For the rest, when you delete your emails, the chances that they are out there in someone else's emails are very good. Just because you can't see your emails doesn't mean someone else can't find them!!!

Might need to check on something from a previous email.