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What is Backup?
A backup is the deliberate act of making a copy of the information saved on computers or external hard drives, such as a RAID box or NAS server, and removing it to another location where it is both safe and easily retrievable.
Backup systems can be thought of as consisting of six essential ingredients:
- Data - Digital information, especially information organised and stored for analysis, or used to reason, or make decisions
- Hardware Device to Backup Data - A device that data is copied to from another device, with the intention of protecting it against loss or damage, such as additional hard drives, CDs, DVDs and tape devices
- Software – Applications that specifically aid in automating the collection, tracking, and writing of data to a backup device, as well as the restoration of data from the backup device to its place of origin.
- Backup Process (Internal Business Process) – Scheduling backup operations in a way that adequately protects data while minimising the impact of backup operations on networks is critical. Properly established, the backup process can liberate a company from the task of overseeing backups (i.e., backups can take place at night)
- Off-Site Location – Storing backup tapes in the same facility where they are created exposes them to the same risk as the original data (e.g., fire and theft). By rotating backup tapes to and from a separate location, lost data can be easily restored if disaster strikes
- Media – It is important to have the correct number of media cartridges on hand to support the backup device and backup methodology selected. A solid media management plan promotes increased reliability and ensures media longevity.
What is Archiving?
Archiving is often considered simply a component of backup and recovery with the movement of storage media to an off-site facility for disaster recovery. While this definition is sufficient for backup, it doesn’t fully articulate the benefits archiving can provide.
In fact, archiving is a process that can exist independent of backup as part of a broader, business level data retention strategy. In this instance, archiving is focused on helping customers reduce storage costs by moving data off of higher cost primary disk to a lower cost storage tier.
For rich media, government, science and engineering customers archiving is especially critical. For these customers, and others like them, archiving is not an “offline” process where data is moved to a tape and stored on a shelf. Instead it is an “online/active” process where data is stored in a repository that can be accessed on demand.
Four key features of a good archiving strategy:
- Moves files to lower cost tiers of storage – including tape for maximum cost control
- Allows files to be accessed on-demand for revenue generating activities
- Hides the movement of files so that users do not have to search for data
- Protects and safeguards content as it is moved, so no data is accidentally lost.
Combined, these four functions allow customers to manage the cost of growing data repositories without sacrificing or complicating access to data.
A backup is the deliberate act of making a copy of the information saved on computers or external hard drives, such as a RAID box or NAS server, and removing it to another location where it is both safe and easily retrievable.
Backup systems can be thought of as consisting of six essential ingredients:
Data – Digital information, especially information organised and stored for analysis, or used to reason, or make decisions.
Hardware Device to Backup Data – A device that data is copied to from another device, with the intention of protecting it against loss or damage, such as additional hard drives, CDs, DVDs and tape devices.
Software – Applications that specifically aid in automating the collection, tracking, and writing of data to a backup device, as well as the restoration of data from the backup device to its place of origin.
Backup Process (Internal Business Process) – Scheduling backup operations in a way that adequately protects data while minimising the impact of backup operations on networks is critical. Properly established, the backup process can liberate a company from the task of overseeing backups (i.e., backups can take place at night).
Off-Site Location – Storing backup tapes in the same facility where they are created exposes them to the same risk as the original data (e.g., fire and theft). By rotating backup tapes to and from a separate location, lost data can be easily restored if disaster strikes.
Media – It is important to have the correct number of media cartridges on hand to support the backup device and backup methodology selected. A solid media management plan promotes increased reliability and ensures media longevity.
What is Archiving?
Archiving is often considered simply a component of backup and recovery with the movement of storage media to an off-site facility for disaster recovery. While this definition is sufficient for backup, it doesn’t fully articulate the benefits archiving can provide.
In fact, archiving is a process that can exist independent of backup as part of a broader, business level data retention strategy. In this instance, archiving is focused on helping customers reduce storage costs by moving data off of higher cost primary disk to a lower cost storage tier.
For rich media, government, science and engineering customers archiving is especially critical. For these customers, and others like them, archiving is not an “offline” process where data is moved to a tape and stored on a shelf. Instead it is an “online/active” process where data is stored in a repository that can be accessed on demand.
Four key features of a good archiving strategy:
• Moves files to lower cost tiers of storage – including tape for maximum cost control
• Allows files to be accessed on-demand for revenue generating activities
• Hides the movement of files so that users do not have to search for data
• Protects and safeguards content as it is moved, so no data is accidentally lost
Combined, these four functions allow customers to manage the cost of growing data repositories without sacrificing or complicating access to data.
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