The implementation of an appropriate disaster recovery plan is the top data storage challenge faced by businesses, according to a new study.

Research from Storage Expo has found 83 per cent of companies believe putting in place such a strategy is the biggest challenge, followed by data security for the business (82 per cent) and the management of growing data volumes (81 per cent), vnunet.com reports.

According to the news provider, the Storage Expo event which is to take place in London in October will bring to the fore the need for efficient storage architecture, with storage needs continuing to grow rapidly.

Frances Coulson, a spokesperson for recovery specialists R3, last month argued that businesses carrying out disaster recovery planning should balance the cost against risks they are seeking protection against.

She issued the advice while pointing out that insurance payouts can be paid too late for the business to survive.

Ms Coulson advised: "Whatever contingencies you can think of, weigh up what the possible risk is and how far you can go to mitigate it or have a replacement ready."

A recent survey for Connect found that one in ten companies has lost important data as a result of a backup failure. The company has now developed a unique online backup service - http://www.connect.co.uk/services/online_backup – for SMEs to ensure they can survive any disaster