A survey has revealed that every day many of us risk losing information and memories that we hold dear.

A YouGov survey of over 2000 online adults found that almost one in five of us who own a portable device admit to losing phone numbers and contact details by mislaying items while 40% admitting to not backing up photos on portable devices.

The survey was commissioned by Network Appliance (NetApp), which provides storage and data management solutions.

It detailed that whilst 58% of those that own a portable device store up to 500 photos, only 6% are very worried about losing them.

Meanwhile, the 60% who had lost a device with phone numbers on had to source the contact details from scratch.

Surprisingly, only 44% said this had made them think twice about backing up information in future.

The worse culprits for losing devices with phone numbers and contact details stored on them are 25- to 34-year-olds.

In fact, 33% of those who responded to the questionnaire admitted to have mislaid portable devices, compared to only 8% in the over 55s category.

Mark Stevens, UK Area Director at NetApp said: "Data backup and protection is not just a concern for businesses. Today's 'Digital Generation' load 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."

The survey also highlighted that gender, as well as age, comes into play when it comes to how worried participants were about losing their contact books or personal image collections.

Three times as many women than men said that they were very worried about losing images.

The survey also found that men who have lost devices with contact details are less likely to change their behaviour while of the women who responded, 43% said that they would not backup or change the way they store information.

Mark Stevens, UK Area Director at NetApp continued: "Clearly there is a level of education needed to help consumers protect their information".

"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."

Geography also played a part in the findings.

The survey found that people from the South of England are least likely to have photos backedup on their portable devices than in any other region while it is the Scottish who are most careful with 48% of respondents there having backed up their pics.

Londoners are most likely to lose a portable device containing contact details at 26%, compared to 15% of people in the South and 15% in the Midlands and Wales

And interestingly, those in the South are less likely to change their ways after losing a device. While 47% of Northerners said that they would change the way they store information following the loss of a device, only 35% of Southerners said the same.

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