{"id":83800,"date":"2018-06-21T09:37:38","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T16:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/?p=83800"},"modified":"2021-08-12T06:17:23","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T13:17:23","slug":"computer-backup-awareness-in-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/computer-backup-awareness-in-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Computer Backup Awareness in 2018: Getting Better and Getting Worse"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Backup<\/a><\/p>\n

Back in June 2008, Backblaze launched our first Backup Awareness Survey. Beginning with that survey and each year since, we\u2019ve commissioned the folks at The Harris Poll to conduct our annual survey. For the last 11 years now, they\u2019ve asked the simple question, \u201cHow often do you backup all the data on your computer?\u201d Let\u2019s see what they\u2019ve found.<\/p>\n

First, a Little History<\/h3>\n

While we did the first survey in 2008, it wasn\u2019t until 2009, after the second survey was conducted, that we declared June as Backup Awareness Month, making June 2018 the 10th anniversary of Backup Awareness Month. But, why June? You\u2019re probably thinking that June is a good time to remind people about backing up their computers. It’s before summer vacations in the northern hemisphere and the onset of winter down under. In truth, back in 2008 Backblaze was barely a year old and the survey, while interesting, got pushed aside as we launched the first beta of our cloud backup product<\/a> on June 4, 2008<\/a>. When June 2009 rolled around, we had a little more time and two years worth of data. Thus, Backup Awareness Month was born<\/a> (PS — the contest is over).<\/p>\n

More People Are Backing Up, But\u2026<\/h3>\n

Fast forward to June 2018, and the folks at The Harris Poll have diligently delivered another survey. You can see the details about the survey methodology at the end of this post. Here\u2019s a high level look at the results over the last 11 years as we look at the backup frequency among computer owners from 2008 through 2018.
\n\"Computer<\/a><\/p>\n

The percentage of computer owners backing up all the data on their computer has steadily increased over the years, from 65% in 2008 to 76% in 2018. That\u2019s awesome, but at the other end of the time spectrum it\u2019s not so pretty. The percentage of computer owners backing up once a day or more often is 6% in 2018. That’s no change from 2008. Wouldn\u2019t it be nice if there were a program you could install on your computer<\/a> that would back up all the data automatically?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how 2018* compares to 2008 for how often people back<\/a> up all the data on their computers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A lot has happened over the last 11 years in the world of computing, but at least people are taking backing up their computers a little more seriously. And that\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n

A Few Data Backup Facts<\/h2>\n

Each survey provides interesting insights into the attributes of backup fiends and backup slackers. Here are a few facts from the 2018 survey*.<\/p>\n

Men<\/h3>\n