Mobile phones take over the world

The number of mobile phones worldwide is expected to exceed the world’s population by 2014, with overall penetration rates reaching 96% globally by the end of this year.

That is according to the International Telecommunication Union, who reports a 55% increase in mobile device recoveries for phones and tablets from 2010 to 2011, followed by a 161% rise in 2012.

With more and more people storing valuable personal and business data on their mobile devices, there is no doubt the demand for recovery when something goes wrong will continue to climb.

“For mobile devices, physical damage is the most common cause of data loss we see, representing about two-thirds of data recovery cases,” says Adrian Briscoe, general manager APAC, Kroll Ontrack.

“Inherent in their purpose, mobile devices are simply on the go, and therefore more susceptible to human error, including drops, which can cause electronic failure, and water damage.

"The other third are from logical failures, such as accidentally deleted files, corrupt software, password lockout and OS upgrade issues.”

Kroll Ontrack's own Data Recovery report suggests for recovery resulting from physical failure, 31% of cases were electronics-related physical damage, 23% were the result of water or moisture damage and seven percent were related to damage to the exterior of the device.

For recovery resulting from logical failure, 26% were the result of deleted files, seven percent were software corruption and six percent were cases of password lockout. Across all types of recovery scenarios, Kroll Ontrack has found that data loss incidents are platform independent and occur within iOS, Android, and Windows devices.

“In most cases, recovery can be attained by way of physical repair or bypassing a corrupted OS," Briscoe says.

Tips for handling data loss:

· Time is of the essence: Power off the mobile device immediately and get it to a reputable data recovery provider. The longer you wait, the more likely critical data will be overwritten (deleted files) or the drive will corrode (physical damage such as water).

· Backup, backup, backup: Before disaster strikes, back-up your data to another device, such as a laptop, the cloud or an external drive. If you get an operating system error, this backup is often the saving grace in the recovery process.

· Know what you want: The key to recovering data quickly is to know what data to target. Communicate to your data recovery provider what data is most critical to better ensure a timely and accurate recovery.

Are mobile phones taking over the world? Have you had any bad data loss experiences? Tell us your experiences below