Data Tape Backup Media Atlanta

Take Care of Your Data

Media Acclimation – If tapes come from a different environment, allow them to stabilize for at least 24 hours before use.

Control the Environment – Maintain and observe temperature and non-condensing relative humidity for both the operating and storage environment in which you use the tapes. Also, keep the surrounding area clean.

No Magnets – Keep tape cartridges away from magnetic sources.

Clean the Drives – Many recording/reading errors are temporary and can be corrected by periodically cleaning the drive.

Backup Program

How comfortable should the typical IT manager be with making just one back-up copy of an important document? Not very.

Organizations need a solid backup program that involves the creation of multiple copies of files, allowing for short-term data protection, recovery versions and long-term archive. Everything in the backup process should be based on reliable recovery, from drive and media technology, quality and reliability of media, and care and handling of media, to read verification testing of the backed-up data. And it’s important that one piece of data be backed up on more than just one piece of media. The purpose of backup is to protect against disaster, data loss, damage or deletion of the primary on-line copy. Backup also provides version history of files so that prior work can be recovered. It takes many copies of files stored on separate pieces of media to fully ensure that each of these requirements can be met reliably.

A solid backup program should also entail the following:

Off-site storage of some of the media in the backup rotation cycle. Storage of backup tapes with servers does not adequately protect a business. If the site experiences physical damage, a company risks losing everything. Later on in this article there is a discussion about the importance of establishing a disaster recovery program.

A robust backup application that streamlines management of the backup process. This is especially applicable for network environments where multiple servers and many workstations are under management. Because of the complexity and lack of automation in a manually run backup system, the responsibility for backup cannot be delegated to workgroups or an operator, but must remain with the network manager. Backup administrative labor costs can run anywhere from tens of thousands of dollars per year to hundreds of thousands depending on the size of the company. The implementation of Network Area Storage (NAS) and Storage Area Networks (SAN) has helped to streamline the backup process, but has also fueled the need for high capacity tape.

Fara Yale, Chief Analyst, Computer Storage Service, for GartnerGroup’s Dataquest, emphasizes that the key word to remember in backup is recovery. "If you’re using faulty media and the drive doesn’t detect a problem with the media, it’ll appear that you’ve completed the entire process of backing up. Only when it’s too late, can you find out it hasn’t. It’s important to confirm that the drive, as well as the media, is in good working order."

Archival Program

Companies need to archive data, both for business and legal reasons. There are various state and federal laws that financial, insurance, government and other institutions must maintain copies of certain types of records. For example, business records, contracts, leases and agreements should be kept for at least seven years. There is a three-year minimum for employee and human resource records and a three-to-seven year requirement for payroll and benefit records.

If that isn’t enough of an incentive for developing an archival program, then consider this: The penalties for not maintaining and recovering tax records. An individual can be legally and personally liable for any loss of computer data. A fine of up to $100,000 or a five-year prison sentence can be imposed.

When talking about archiving, it is important to distinguish between data in archive and media in archive. Multiple copies of data on a single piece of media leaves that data at risk – sort of like putting all of your eggs in one basket. Data security is achieved only through media redundancy on reliable media. The foremost principle is that the quality of media used should always be suitable for the data application. With its long shelf life, high capacity and durability, media such as DLTtape is an excellent choice for archiving.

Most backup applications can create media suitable for archive; either the backup tapes themselves can be retained long-term for archive, or special archive tapes can be created using an "export" function. The negative side of using a backup application for long-term archive is that the media is recorded in a proprietary logical format readable only by the originating application. True long-term archive would also require archiving the entire backup system (computer, recording hardware and software) as well as media (and in multiple copies). The alternative is to use a backup or archive application that is capable of writing in an industry standard format such as "tar," "cpio," "UDG," "MTF" or "SIDF." Even then, the recording drives need to be archived as well. A unique factor with the DLTtape system is the backward-read compatibility. New-generation drives can read media recorded on older drives.

It is also appropriate to see archive as a hierarchy of media that is generated by different processes working in concert. Backup creates short-term media. When coupled with data removed from active storage via hierarchical storage management (HSM) or explicit archive grooming, it is considered medium-term archive. Long-term archive forms a legal record.

Protecting data involves thoughtful planning and plain old common sense. Most important, never be lulled into a false sense of security when your company’s most important asset – its data – is involved.