InformationWeek Reveals Why Big Data Needs Tape

According to InformationWeek’s recent article “How to Protect The Big Data Archive”, there is a raging debate as to how big data should be protected and stored as data sets become larger and larger over time. Since data archives are often too large to be fully backed up, it is almost impossible to perform full backups.

Additionally, disk-only storage is amazingly expensive. Thus, organizations around the globe are increasingly having data protection embedded within their architectures. Because data sets are too large, running separate processes is quite difficult.

So what does all of this actually mean? When put simply, it means that an increasing number of organizations are creating big data environments that store intensive Web content, video, audio, images, and more. If for any reason, a specific piece of data needs to be retrieved due to a specific event (which may be triggered by a news event or court case), a particular video or picture may need to be accessed. Thus, such data needs to be ready for recall at a moment’s notice, which makes data protection more important than ever.

So, the question is, how can such large data sets be effectively protected? The answer is quite simple…firms need to get creative. Today’s storage infrastructure can include a mix of disk, “cloud storage”, and tape.

In fact, InformationWeek reports that tape should potentially play a large role within big data archiving efforts. Archive file systems nicely support tape, while active data can be stored on tape for instant access. The beauty of such a scenario is that active data can be regularly backed up onto two tapes. The first tape is used when data is first created, and the second tape can support a nightly backup. This provides double the reliability and protection.

As tape backups become a regular practices and the number of tapes stored internally increases, they can be sent for off-site storage and recalled when needed. The off-line nature of tape saves energy and lowers storage costs.

While disk is seemingly the simplest and easiest scenario, the reality is that when all data is stored online, an organization runs the risk of their data being attacked by a harmful bug (and all data lost) and costs can be exorbitant. Today’s world calls for creative solutions to big data archive, and tape is a recommended part of the mix.

Stay tuned for more information on the hot topic of big data archiving!

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May 2, 2012 by
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