A study into the stress which can be caused as the result of data loss has been carried out by LG Electronics in the UK.
More than 2000 people were questioned as part of the research, which attempts to gauge stress levels which result from data loss incidents.
Significantly, it was discovered that there is a difference in response depending on whether the subject is male or female.
Eighteen per cent of males equated receiving news of data loss to being lumbered with a bill which had not been anticipated. Other men who were questioned said that it might be as stressful as being made redundant, crashing a car or becoming a victim of male pattern baldness.
For women, the data loss equivalents were as predictably patronising although presumably accurate, with respondents claiming that it would be similar to the loss of a pet or the inability to squeeze into a pair of jeans before a night out. The most extreme reactions resulted in comparisons with discovering that a close friend or relative had fallen ill.
A recent study also looked at the way in which students deal with data loss. A fifth of respondents said that they had deleted data by accident and a further 70 per cent said faulty hardware had resulted in data loss in their daily lives.
Hard drive failure was cited by 66 per cent of students as the key reason for data loss which in turn, had an impact on academic work and performance at school, college or university.
Fifty five per cent of respondents to LG’s data loss study said that they did not have a disaster recovery plan or any significant backup capabilities to restore their precious personal data. Experts believe that in most cases, this is simply because people do not have enough space on their computers or portable storage devices to preserve larger files like pictures, music and videos.
It is impossible to put a value on the data which every man and woman stores, whether it is family snaps, business documents or financial information, which puts the onus on users to properly protect their information.
