More companies backing up data, Gartner says.

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According to Gartner, recent natural disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, have spurred an increasing number of North American companies to replicate or back up their data.

According to a recent Gartner survey of 104 North American IT managers, 45 percent of those surveyed reported backing up or replicating data to another disk, up dramatically from just 6 percent in 2004.

Although more companies are backing up data, 70 percent of respondents said they back up to a local device, leaving their backup data vulnerable to a local disaster. "Backing up data to a local device means that any catastrophic event that destroyed a company's primary server would likely destroy the backup media as well," said Adam W. Couture, principal research analyst for Gartner. "Companies hoping to protect their data for the long haul must look at using remote backup and recovery service providers."

With storage security a big concern among companies, especially in the wake of the many lost and stolen data incidents in 2005, 55 percent of respondents said they encrypt all their backup files. Fifty percent said they will review internal policies regarding who has access to...