Archive to tape or disk.

The difference between backup and archive is sometimes misconstrued by many organisations who need to protect their data. The key difference is that backup is a process to save data and archive exists to reduce costs and risks, and to protect data for a much longer period of time.  An archive is no longer the realm of a cool damp corridor full of files stored in fire proof containers.  Instead, a company archive, is increasingly held electronically. Data is stored securely on tape or disk, duplicated in many locations to protect it from hazard. 

It is generally considered best practice to retain a minimum of two copies of archive data; one for immediate access and other copies held off-site in case the first is damaged or lost. Some organisations opt for archive strategies that may consist of two or more stages; the first being near-line ( generally disk) and the second off-line (tape). The choice of storage media, irrespective of if it is near-line or off-line should meet the needs of a given project's final requirements. With the availability of relatively inexpensive storage, some archive software offers the capability to create a Virtual Tape Library and this is sometimes used to provide a suitable near-line archive. However, for off-line, tape is considered to be the most suitable storage media. For smaller archive requirements, stand-alone disk devices, such as RDX do offer an alternative to tape.

Tape archive

• Long-term storage of data no longer in use
• Data migration removing load from (costly) online storage
• Off-site storage
• Archive data from more than one server

Considerations

• Identify your data protection needs
• Decide and plan your archiving policies and protection of data longer term
• Consider staging archives to offer levels of access - example: up to two years held on disk, over two years held on tape
• Consider the use of disk as an alternative to tape for faster access to archive data or where data storage requirements are smaller.
• Will previews of all files be kept?
• Would importing metadata help find files?
• Will users be offered manual archiving processes?
• Off-site protection of data is important - if the location of the backup server is the same as the primary server, consider where tapes will be stored and how this process will be managed.
• Archive indexes should be backed up

Features / benefits

• Long term access to data can be maintained tape or disk
• Easy to search and restore using file system
• Simple set up
• Little administration
• Scalable - add or upgrade licences to offer new features, servers or workstations, larger tape libraries
• Cost and time effective
• Any general user can be given permission to search archives and restore files
• Previews of media files (PDF, TIFF, JPG, AIFF, MOV, m4v...)
• Import metadata
• Custom metadata fields describing files, extensible & searchable
• Detailed PresSTORE Archive features

Licencing Considerations

• How many servers need data archiving
• The number of servers to be included for archive dictates the number of server clients needed
• Will data be held off-site?
• How many tape drives and tape slots are required?
• How many tapes can the library hold? This will determine the number of media management storage licences needed
• How many drives does the tape library have? This will determine the number of media drive licences needed
• Can the tape library be expanded and are their sufficient PresSTORE licences if early expansion is needed?
• If archiving to disk using PresSTORE Virtual tape library feature, ensure there are sufficient media management storage licences for your archive needs

PresSTORE licences to consider first:

• Archive Module
• Archive Edition