The most common thing that comes to mind is altering huge database tables. You may need from minutes to hours to perform heavy SQL operations and if you run you

The most common thing that comes to mind is altering huge database tables. You may need from minutes to hours to perform heavy SQL operations and if you run your commands from a client you want it to survive the ssh session, no matter what. Another example is the import/export of large quantities of data (e.g. to clone/move a machine) or perform a long running task (e.g. you found a better way to compress images and want to run it once on every image). Of course these are not everyday tasks, but once in a while they may be required. That said, if you connect via ssh to a server you are rarely happy to "lose" whatever task you have run, there aren't major drawbacks in using screen/tmux everytime you connect to a remote server.