Don’t lose precious family memories – remember to back up

Precious baby photographs, family snaps and other important memories are lost for ever as a third of people in the UK fail to back up their digital images.

According to research by online backup service Mozy, we have more than 1,500 photographs or videos stored on our computers.

One in five people are not backing them up at all and a quarter back up using potentially corruptible data CDs, USB or external hard drive.

“People think that backing up to CDs, USB keys and external hard drives is enough to keep their data safe but, whilst this is great way to get your data back quickly, it’s still at a massive risk of loss,” said Claire Galbois-Alcaix, of Mozy. 

“Backing up to this sort of device can work perfectly if your computer fails but, if your laptop has been stolen or soaked by a burst water pipe, local backup typically falls foul to the same fate as the computer: in a house fire, a CD is just as likely to melt as a PC. That’s why a backup service that automatically makes a copy of your data locally as well as storing it securely online is such a good idea.”