New Poll Sponsored by Seagate Finds Consumers are Taking Unnecessary Risks with their Digital Assets
Press Release
· Thirty percent of adults not backing up ‘critical’ data
· Five tips to help protect data and make backup easier
A worldwide consumer survey of adult computer users, sponsored by Seagate Technology (NYSE: STX), has found that Australians are behind the rest of the world when it comes to backing up their digital files and precious digital memories.
A global study conducted mid 2007 by Harris Interactive®*, revealed that 30 percent of Australian adults don’t backup ‘critical’ electronic data such as photos, e-mail and personal and business documents. This is despite the fact that 58 percent of Australians surveyed have previously lost important data.
According to Henk van den Berg, Seagate’s director of sales and marketing for South Asia and ANZ, the most frequently cited reasons by Australian adults for not protecting these assets is “their ‘lack of understanding of how to perform a backup’ or that backup is ‘too complex a process’ (34 percent). Another 21 percent said they don’t think it’s important enough to worry about, 10 percent think it takes too much time, and 7 percent don’t backup because they believe that backup devices are too costly. And 12 percent said they never knew they had to do it.”
“The concern is that a high proportion of Australians are risking losing precious and largely vital information and images when a few minutes and some simple backup techniques could help protect this data, saving them heartache and giving them peace of mind,” van den Berg said. “With the increasing number of digital devices on the market and a larger number of users interacting electronically, the thought that data loss just won’t happen to them is going to catch some users by surprise.”
Elsewhere in the world, the poll shows that other English-speaking markets are almost as far behind the curve as Australia when it comes to protecting their digital assets. The U.S. and Great Britain were most negligent, with 35 percent failing to make backup copies of digital content stored to external devices or media. Of the six international markets surveyed, China leads the world in effective data backup with 83 percent doing so, followed by France at 81 percent and Germany at 73 percent of consumers taking the proper steps to protect and back up their data correctly. Australia has 68 percent of adults backing up all their digital content.
The research indicates that the digital files most valued by adult computer users in Australia, Great Britain, France, Germany, China and the United States are personal photos (39 percent), followed by text documents and emails (23 percent) as well as financial/business records (14 percent). In addition, more than a third (37 percent) of respondents globally considered their digital content to be “priceless.”
Van den Berg emphasized that with the latest advancements in digital storage management, consumers need to be better educated on how to backup data effectively and the availability of the various backup solutions.
“Educating Australian consumers about the importance of protecting their data is a priority for Seagate,” said van den Berg. “While technology has enabled consumers to now become the greatest generators of digital content – even surpassing that of businesses for the first time in 2006 – the complexity of managing these valued assets has also increased. People need to realize the fact that digital files are at risk of being lost forever.” “Backing up on an external hard drive can now be a simple and seamless process. And is significantly more reliable than the intensive burning of discs that still requires cataloguing and storage – and, even then, data can still risk being lost or damaged.”
Seagate has five recommendations for consumers to keep their priceless digital assets safe.
- Backup daily or at minimum, weekly. With an automated scheduled backup via external hard drive solutions, you’ll never have to remember to backup before shutting down for the day. “Backup” means the files can be found in at least two locations.
- File level and folder-level backup ensures that all your essential files and folders are backed up on a regular basis.
- For added protection against natural disaster, fire or theft, rotate two drives with one offsite or use an online storage solution.
- Don’t wait! With the latest Seagate and Maxtor product offerings, there is no reason anyone should leave their priceless digital content to chance. The need to backup your files is a lesson that is often learned the hard way after the loss of irreplaceable files.
- Invest in a bare metal restore system, such as the Maxtor SafetyDrill(TM) feature, that ensures you’ll have your complete system settings and applications up and running, even if you have a system failure or virus attack on your Windows PC.
To learn more about the new family of Maxtor OneTouchÒ 4 external storage solutions, please visit: http://www.maxtorsolutions.com.
*Harris Interactive®, consumer research 2007
Survey Methodology
The survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of Seagate within the United States among 2,865 adult computer users ages 18 and over between May 30 and June 2, 2007. A study was also conducted online within Great Britain, Germany, France, Australia and China among 8,226 adult computer users ages 16 and over between May 31 and June 12, 2007. Results were weighted as needed for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region, household income, and time spent using a computer.
All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words “margin of error” as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100 percent response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.
Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data has been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population in each
respective country. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to be invited to participate in the Harris Interactive online research panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is the 13th largest and one of the fastest growing market research firms in the world. The company provides innovative research, insights and strategic advice to help its clients make more confident decisions, which lead to measurable and enduring improvements in performance. Harris Interactive is widely known for The Harris Poll, one of the longest running, independent opinion polls, and for pioneering online market research methods. The company has built what it believes to be the world’s largest panel of survey respondents, the Harris Poll Online. Harris Interactive serves clients worldwide through its North American, European and Asian offices, and through a global network of independent market research firms. More information about Harris Interactive may be obtained at www.harrisinteractive.com. To become a member of the Harris Poll Online and be invited to participate in online surveys, register at www.harrispollonline.c
om.
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About Seagate
Seagate is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of hard disc drives and storage solutions, providing products for a wide-range of applications, including Enterprise, Desktop, Mobile Computing, Consumer Electronics and Branded Solutions. Seagate’s business model leverages technology leadership and world-class manufacturing to deliver industry-leading innovation and quality to its global customers, with the goal of being the time-to-market leader in all markets in which it participates. The company is committed to providing award-winning products, customer support and reliability to meet the world’s growing demand for information storage. Seagate can be found around the globe and at http://www.seagate.com.
Seagate, Seagate Technology and the Wave logo are registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC in the United States and/or other countries. SafetyDrill, OneTouch and FreeAgent are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC or one of its affiliated companies in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. When referring to hard drive capacity, one gigabyte, or GB, equals one billion bytes and one terabyte, or TB, equals one trillion bytes. Your computer’s operating system may use a different standard of measurement and report a lower capacity. In addition, some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions, and thus will not be available for data storage. Seagate reserves the right to change, without notice, product offerings or specifications.