Here’s a challenge: See if you can go just a day or two without encountering cloud computing in some form. Good luck, because, these days, it’s next to impossible. Whether it’s in the news or on the television, the cloud is seemingly everywhere.
That has translated into many of you debating its merits and comparing it to traditional, time-tested technologies. This is prevalent on the subject of data back and recovery, with many people asking: Which is better, the cloud, disk or tape? Unfortunately, the answer to your question is not always clear-cut, as there are plenty of rough edges.
For a solution that has proven worthy for long-term archiving (i.e. it is cost effective and relied on by companies the world over) tape is the way to go.
Iron Mountain’s own Blaine Rigler, the company’s senior vice-president and general manager of data backup and recovery, reiterated that stance in an interview with Computerworld.
“Bit error rates are considerably better for tape than disk, making tape a more favorable option for applications requiring encryption and compression,” he recently told the technology news provider. “Tape media also has a much longer storage life than disk, eliminating the need to migrate data to new media as frequently and reducing labor-intensive conversion costs.”
While the cloud is the new “it” technology for organizations, tape storage continues to chug along as one of the most battle-tested strategies out there. Tape still takes top billing when it comes to storing and maintaining information for prolonged time periods.
Of course, it’s also worth noting that a tape-based strategy for data archiving is made better through the partnership between a company and an information management firm such as Iron Mountain.
What data specialists provided is a high level of expertise that few companies can match within their own organizations. Professionals know to handle backup tapes with care and can transport them to an offsite facility securely in order to store them for the long term. Furthermore, the consulting offered by a information management company will ensure that all compliance requirements for the retention of information are satisfied.
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