George Crump of Information Week reports that tape isn’t dying off anytime soon -- in fact, he predicts it will gain importance in data centers in the coming years.
“Thanks to the increased importance of economics, as well as the popularization of three tape technologies, 2013 was a very successful year for tape technology,” says Crump.
In our assessment he couldn’t be more correct. The economic factor comes down to the fact that storing massive amount so of data on tape (offline) is far less expensive than storing it on disk (online).
Even with the Cloud becoming more and more prominent in the data storage world, there is a place for tape. Earlier in 2013, Crump outlined the three roles for tape with regard to the cloud:
1. Cloud seeding.
2. Cloud recovery.
3. Cloud deep archive.
The truth of the matter is that the cloud can be susceptible to error and even failure. Backing up all data to tape assures any organization full data recovery if there are problems with the cloud.
Crump also cites “standardization” as a reason for tape’s present and future success. He points to LTO media’s importance in the majority of data centers that use tape. “The first technology that made tape more attractive in 2013 was the linear tape file system,” says Crump.
Just in case you aren’t familiar with the linear tape file system (LTFS), it allows for you to easily save and recover data -- just as you would with a hard drive. Prior to the institution of LTFS, information retrieval was time consuming -- not to mention frustrating.
In our minds, one of the most important things about tape is that it can be recycled and reused. Not only does recycling keep e-waste out of landfills, it provides a great opportunity for growing organizations to purchase tape and other equipment for far less money.
Recycling also helps organizations recoup a portion of technology investments. Big Data Supply’s tape buyback program is a perfect example. We buy used tape, completely eradicate all data on all tapes, and make them available for purchase.
Want to learn more about tape? We would be happy to answer your questions and help point you in the right direction. Give us a call or drops us an e-mail!
Contact us today: Info@BigDataSupplyInc.com | Toll Free 800-905-7329 | Local 949-679-6633
We buy New and Used LTO6 Data Tape Media. All Brands.
As you may already be aware, the Linear Tape Open Consortium made LTO-6 tape technology available to the market in the latter part of 2012. Defying the ridiculous claims by data storage experts that tape would be dead by now, the LTO community was thrilled at what they had accomplished with the LTO-6.
To give you an idea of their accomplishments, we will outline a handful of facts you should know about the impressive technology:
• LTO-6 holds up to 6.25TB of compressed data. Wildly enough, the medium’s capacity has more than doubled and its throughput boosted by more than 40 percent. This is excellent news for organizations wanting to keep their tape storage costs down, while accommodating massive amounts of data.
• LTO-6 Drives Offer 400MBps Performance. This means that it uses a 2.5:1 compression ratio and allows for up to 1.4TB of data transferred per hour. Now data management is much easier and time effective.
• Industry leading brands now ship LTO-6. Organizations with major data storage systems can rely on HP, IBM, Quantum, Fujifilm, Hitachi, Maxell, Imation, Sony, and TDK for their LTO-6 products. These brands understand the true value of tape and are committed to making it readily available to the world.
• LTO-6 includes encryption and WORM. These features were also offered in LTO-3, LTO-4, and LTO-5. Encryption helps secure important data, while WORM allows for organizations to store data in a non-rewritable format. They both help organizations meet compliance regulations as set forth by the SEC, Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, SOX, and more.
• LTO-6 Includes Partitioning Functionality, also known as LTFS. The Linear Tape File System is much of the reason data storage experts are eating their previous words that went something like “tape is dead.” Now it is possible to drag and drop files, which makes tape work in a very similar manner as a removable disk drive.
On a daily basis our team is asked by organizations to help them make cost-effective choices for their data storage infrastructures. We can’t be more thrilled with the LTO Consortium and the technologies they have made available in the recent months and years. Not only is LTO-6 impressive from a technical standpoint, it is very durable and can last for 30 or more years.
It has been said time and time again that “the steady horse wins the race.” In our minds, tape is the steady and reliable horse for safely storing data for decades to come.
