Bit bucket
In computing jargon, the bit bucket (or byte bucket) is where lost computerized data has gone, by any means; any data which does not end up where it is supposed to, being lost in transmission, a computer crash, or the like, is said to have gone to the bit bucket –that mysterious place on a computer where lost data goes, as in: The errant byte, having failed the parity test, is unceremoniously dumped into the bit bucket, the computer's wastepaper basket. Millions of dollars in time and research data gone into the bit-bucket?