Society’s increasing reliance on portable media devices for storage of personal information and mementos such as photos could end in tears. It has merged that one in five people lose their portable devices without any form of backup.
A survey has found that an entire generation of adults risks losing cherished memories forever by failing to securely back up data.
The survey of 2,035 adults in the UK by YouGov and commissioned by Network Appliance found that 40pc admit to not backing up photos on portable devices.
While 58pc of those that own a portable device store up to 500 photos, only 6pc are actually worried about losing them.
The survey found that 60pc of those that lost a device with phone numbers had to source the contact details from scratch.
Only 44pc said this made them think twice about backing up information in the future.
Interestingly, 25-34 year-olds (33pc) have mislaid more portable devices with phone numbers and contact details than any other age group. Over 55s are least likely to lose their devices.
“Data backup and protection is not just a concern for businesses,” said Mark Stephens of NetApp. “Today’s ‘Digital Generation’ loads an increasing amount of information onto phones, iPods and laptops everyday and with this comes risk.
“People need to be aware that saving images and numbers without backing them up means they could be lost forever,” Stevens warned.
The research highlights a gender gap in attitudes towards data loss among those storing photos on portable devices, with three times as many women saying they were very worried about losing images than men.
Men who have lost devices with contact details are less likely to change their behaviour than women, with 54pc saying they would not back up or change the way they store information, compared to 43pc of women.
“Clearly there is a level of education needed to help consumers protect their information,” says Stevens.
“Protecting your data doesn’t have to be complex. The right solution will speed and optimise backup and recovery processes, heighten data availability and you can keep in contact with friends and family, as well as retrieve lost images,” he concluded.
By John Kennedy
