With one trillion photos predicted to be captured this year – fuelled by the ‘selfie’ explosion – the news has sparked concern that many precious images will be lost.

The survey by Acronis, a data protection software provider, found that of those who back up data, only 24% had done so in the past week.

Almost half (42.5%) of consumers back up data on USBs or hard drives, while only 18% used a cloud-based service.

‘With the rise of the “selfie” and the increased use of music and videos, many consumers would be completely lost if something happened to their digital device,’ said an Acronis spokesperson.

‘But, unfortunately, most don’t realise the dangers until it’s too late.

‘Consumers need to be educated on the importance of backing up and protecting their data and how easy it is to implement a solution.’

Acronis says it surveyed 200 UK consumers.