Storage Firms Asks “Is Tape Dead?”
Storage Firms Asks “Is Tape Dead?”
November 9, 2007: The worn “is tape dead?” discussion is being prodded again this week by data backup, recovery and storage consolidation provider Evolving Solutions, only to be answered in much the same way as it has been to date.
Penned by the firm’s Director of Professional Services, Chris Taylor, “Is Tape Dead?” explores the current and evolving data backup and recovery market, examining the realistic pros and cons to both tape and disc storage solutions.
Taylor’s conclusions? A practical approach to data storage includes both.
“One way to address both the need for faster restores and a solution for longer term storage and archiving of data is to utilise both tape and disk,” writes Taylor in the article. “For example, critical backup data can be stored on disk for rapid restore, a copy of the critical data can be copied to tape, and less critical data can be staged to disk and then written directly to tape.”
Sounds logical to us. Taylor goes on to say that using this method, less critical data can be staged to tape over time while mission critical data is available for rapid restore.
According to a recent survey conducted by Evolving Solutions, a large (although unspecified) percentage of IT decision makers are taking the combination approach. The firm says that due to this, they are seeing not only better data management, but disaster preparedness.
Is Tape Dead? According to Taylor it isn’t, it’s just changed its role in the lifecycle of data storage.
"[T]he IT firms who balance a powerful collaboration between these two solutions will be those that most effectively match the right service levels to the appropriate costs associated with the value placed on the data," he said.
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