Photographers are at risk of losing hundreds of millions of pictures because of laziness to backup their work.
This is according to a recent survey conducted by Verbatim, in partnership with the Royal Photographic Society, in commemoration of World Backup Day held yesterday. The survey involved 1 800 participants from Europe.
Verbatim points out photographers are losing the images they capture and other irreplaceable data because they fail to adequately backup their memory cards, computers, tablets and smartphones.
Over a quarter of the photographers who took part in the survey have experienced data loss on their home computer or smartphone.
One in five photographers choose not to backup data frequently on their computers because they admit they are too lazy or it takes too long. A third of the photographers never backup their mobile phones or tablets despite nearly one in 10 confessing they had accidentally dropped these devices into the bath or down the toilet.
The study found photographers are most worried about losing pictures, followed by personal documents, videos and music.
According to Verbatim, with the average respondent estimating they store around 220 000 photos on computers, smartphones, tablets and data storage devices, nearly 400 million images are in danger of being lost by the survey's participants unless they take precautions.
"One would naturally assume photographers would be more careful than most to safeguard against data loss," says Dr Michael Pritchard, director-general of the Royal Photographic Society.
"However, the results of this survey reveal backups are not being done routinely and data loss is more prevalent than one might expect, even among professional photographers."
Dozens of respondents reported losing pictures, including wedding photos, and important e-mails and documents. One mentioned a loss of over six years of photographic work, while another lost precious family photographs.
Over 10% admit they never backed up the contents of their mobile or laptop in the past year, leaving them without purchased software and music.
Photographers experienced data loss on their PCs because of hardware failure (52%), software corruption (13%), accidental damage (7%), a computer virus (3%) and theft (1%).
"While it is crucial to remember to do regular backups, it is also vital to follow the accepted best practice of data loss prevention - the 3-2-1 rule," says R"udiger Theobald, EMEA marketing director at Verbatim.
"This rule can be summarised as making at least three copies on two different types of media with one of those devices kept in a different location to the others. Each of those measures is meant to ensure at least one backup of your data will survive if calamity strikes your computer, tablet or smartphone."
Online backup services have flourished in recent years. However, a third of photographers participating in the survey say they suffered problems of access to cloud-based data files, while 5% experienced data loss when using cloud storage solutions.
"It's not wise to rely solely on online storage providers because there's no guarantee you won't lose your data. Online backup services are a great addition to local backups, not a substitute for them," says Christelle Fensham, business development manager at Verbatim.
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