Revealed: What people are getting seriously wrong about photo storage
And those who use storage, mainly prefer Google
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More than a quarter of people do not back up their photos at all, an exclusiveTechRadar Propoll has revealed.
The results of the 1000-person survey, conducted byOnePulseon our behalf, suggest a staggering number of users are leaving their old photos open to data loss in the event of a device failure or security breach.
Asked about theircloud storagepreferences and data backup habits, 25.6% of respondents admitted they do not usephoto cloud storageto secure their media.
Where is digital media being kept?
When it comes to choosing a storage medium, the largest group of people (37.4%) choose physical drives over cloud storage (33.4%). That includes 12.2% relying onUSB flash drives, 5.6% backing up on tape, and 19.6% usingexternal hard drivesandNAS drives.
Despite consumer andbusiness cloud storage servicesplaying a greater role in securing our digital lives, physical devices overall remain the favored solution.
The poll also revealed which cloud-based service is most popular, with more than half of respondents saying they “store photos mostly onGoogle”.
Most (42.1%) opt for the free version, undeterred by the upload and resolution limits imposed on those who don’t subscribe toGoogle One. But just under 20% pay for their photo storage, either withGoogleor aGoogle Photos alternative.
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Facebook proved a surprisingly popular choice, with 8.9% making use of the social network’s cloud facilities. A further 8.4% use other free services to store their photos.
Reviewing results
TechRadar Pro’s poll offers a glimpse at how we’re choosing to safeguard the media that matters most to us.
Today, videos and images hold untold value. Any heart-breaking loss - whether it’s a stolen device or a data breach - comes with major security and privacy implications too.
The quest to cut Google out of your digital life>Cloud data breaches are getting bigger and nastier>Security update live blog - all the latest news you need to know
However, resistance to photo backup (as with the 21% who don’t store images online at all) might, in part, be guided byothersecurity and privacy concerns. It’s no secret thatcloud data breachesare on the up, causing trust in tech companies to wane.
Businesses may also be struggling to create and maintain a strong media backup process. With so many digital assets flowing between departments, the resources needed to properly catalog and store them take time most firms don’t have.
Promisingly, however, nearly 71% have photo backups in case of issues. And it’s almost neck and neck between physical and cloud storage, for now.
We expect online photo backup to snatch the lead in future; it’s too convenient and built into daily lives - and not just on our phones and home computers. Like video conferencing, the shift to remote andhybrid workingmeans everyone is now familiar with cloud storage.
Steve is TechRadar Pro’s B2B Editor for Creative & Hardware. He began in tech journalism reviewing photo editors and video editing software at the magazine Web User, where he also covered technology news, features, and how-to guides. Today, he and his team of reviewers test out a range of creative software, hardware, and office furniture. Once upon a time, he wrote TV commercials and movie trailers. Relentless champion of the Oxford comma.
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