Products Tape Libraries, Tape Drives, and Storage Media

Measuring the lifetime cost of data storage is one of the important factors to assess when making a substantial IT purchase. One factor that some companies may not take into account is the lifetime cost of IT equipment.

Some of the significant points to consider when evaluating the long-term, lifetime cost of acquiring a tape library or disk storage system include:

1)      Think Green!!
Energy costs can be surprisingly high when power is running to a library, server and a cooling system.  Don’t overlook this cost when backups need to be running 24-7-365.

2)      Nothing Is Free, Even Space
When evaluating backup solutions, make sure to factor in data center floor space; this will be high on any IT manager’s list of questions. Will the solutions being considered fit in the current area, will it need to go in another room or will the entire data center need to be relocated to accommodate the unit? Space can be a hidden cost accelerator.

3)      Manpower
Although newer technology decreases the need for constant management, personnel will always be needed to operate backup libraries, tape or disk. They will need to be trained on both the new and existing backup functions to guarantee the safety of corporate data.

4)      Look To The Future
No company can know exactly their position in five years.  However, plan for the future and plan for growth by using backup solutions that are scalable.  This can allow for upgrades instead of replacements.

Be sure to add these factors when measuring the lifetime cost of data storage solutions. Have any questions about going green, space saving storage solutions, manpower allocation, or scalable solutions? Call InStock at 877-786-2533 or fill out our contact form – we’ll call you. We’re here to help!

by Doug Lawrence and Kathy Miranda, InStock, Inc.

Restoration, disaster recovery, legal compliance, conversion and backup are just a few of the reasons why your data storage method needs to be thorough, layered and cost effective.  Depending on just one backup method can be a monumental mistake. Instead of holding only one copy on disk, always hold vital data on tape as well as to keep it clear of intentional or unintentional corruption. Keep in mind a Giga Byte of tape stored data is only about 4 cents per byte, making it relatively inexpensive to store multiple copies of data.

One of the keys to maximizing data storage is mitigating risk. We discussed this briefly in the article “5 Ways to Better Data Backup and Long-Term Data Retention,” but its importance deems a more in depth analysis.  With the help of Debbie Beach and her article “Best Practices for Backup and Long-term data retention”, minimizing the threats to your data can easily be accomplished.

1. You’re Not Paranoid – You’re Just Prepared
   It is not a matter of being paranoid, it is a matter of being prepared. The cup of coffee COULD spill onto your disk or tape backup unit. There COULD be a fiery crash when the data storage company is transporting your tapes to the off site storage center. There COULD be a flood (natural or man-made) at the storage center. It is always a good plan to have backup to your backup.
2. Protection – Times 3
   To protect yourself from a true disaster, it is best to keep at least three separate physical copies of critical corporate data.  One of copies should always be kept at a different physical location than your data center in case of threats like fire, floods or earthquakes.
3. Keep One Copy “Off the Grid”
   With hackers and cons becoming more and more intelligent, protection offline is necessary at all times.  This includes times when data is either at rest or in transit.
4. It’s All in the Mix
   While neither tape nor disk is completely reliable or unreliable, errors do and will occur.  A combination of disk and tape is the safest way to prevent a true loss of information. This will make certain that your data is protected on several levels in several mediums.

In the end, these steps will help keep your vital corporate information safe from outside sources, natural disasters and internal miscues.

By Doug Lawrence & Kathy Miranda

By Doug Lawrence, InStock Tape Technician

In the complex language of data storage, it is easy to get caught up in the diction and jargon of technicians and other IT individuals.  For the common company employee, these terms may not only become misguided but may be completely foreign.  To help individuals such as this, the three main types of backups will be clearly described.  With the help of an article from Brien M. Posey on www.searchdatabackup.com, the three main types of data backup are full backups, incremental backups and differential backups will be described.

Full backups:  These are the traditional backups which copy an entire data set.  This option undoubtedly offers the most protection but is not commonly used to the amount of time these backups take.  Along with this, the large amount of media (whether tape or disk) is another downfall of full backups.

Pros: Best data protection

Cons: More time; more media

Incremental backups:  Backups done on this manner were designed to solve the problems of full backups: time and resources.  In an incremental backup, only the data which has changed since the previous backup will be stored.  If you do a complete backup on Monday and used incremental for the remainder of the week, Tuesday would only contain changed information from Monday and Wednesday would only contain changes from Tuesday.  Although this saves time from the full backup, the restoration portion of this backup is time consuming.

Pros: Saves time and resources from the full backup

Cons: Not as much protection; restoration time

Differential backups:  These backups are similar to incremental but always restore data from the last full backup and not the previous backup.  In the last example, this would mean that the differential backup would always occur from Monday and not the day before.  This cuts restoration time while still cutting backup time.

Pros: Saves time and resources from the full backup; less restoration time

Cons: Not as much protection

All of these backup types have positive and negative aspects.  In the grand scheme of things, it is up to the technician or IT manager to “pick his/her evil”.  The main thing for the other individuals of the company is to know and understand the vocabulary behind these processes.