Important Statistics about Data Loss (cont...)

Statistics are always a matter of interpretation but the figures presented below provide an indicative perspective on the costs and impacts on data loss that can't be ignored.

Statistics about the cost of recouping data

• It takes 19 days and costs $17,000 to retype 20 megabytes of sales data.

• The same volume of accounting data takes 21 days and costs $19,000.

• Recreating data from scratch is estimated to cost between $2,000 and $8,000 per MB.

• Insurance of business data is expensive, and in certain countries, insurance companies will not insure data.

• 60% of companies that lose their data close down within 6 months of the disaster.

• 72% of businesses that suffer major data loss disappear within 24 months.

A national Harris Interactive survey of 597 computer users reveals:

• Nearly three out of five personal computer users have lost an electronic file they thought they had sufficiently stored.

• Only one in four users frequently back up digital files, even when 85 percent of computer users say they are very concerned about losing important digital data.

• 82 percent keep a hard copy of important documents they've also saved electronically.

• Thirty-seven percent of the survey's respondents admitted to backing up their files less than once per month.

• Nine percent admitted they have never backed up their files.

• More than 22 percent said backing up information is on their to-do list, but they seldom do it.