From punch cards and paper tape, to petabites and cloud storage, data migration has come a long ways throughout the years. Each year brings a new addition to the world of data backup from storage capacity to different formats and platforms. Do you remember when we talked about computer storage in the terms of megabytes? Now we have reached a time where petabytes are now being mentioned, which is equivalent to almost 11,000,000,000 megabytes. While data storage and capacity has certainly come a long way, tape storage is still holding its own against the new kids on the block. Here are some of the ways that tape storage is still one of the best choices when it comes to storing your data.
Reliability
One of the major advantages of tape data migration is its proven reliability. According to a NERSC study, tape systems have a 99.999 percent proven reliability, far outweighing that of disk drives for dependable storage. Since tape systems are not always spinning like disks, they are not susceptible to crashing. That constant spinning with disk storage also generates a lot of heat, which can add the extra burden and costs of cooling into the mix. Tape systems, unlike disks are also not always online, leaving them less vulnerable to accidental deletion and quick overrides of data, giving you the piece of mind that all of your data is safe, accessible, and unharmed.
Cost-Effective
Cost can be a major contributing factor when it comes to choosing the right format of data migration for your company. While disk may be faster, that extra speed comes with a price. It's estimated that LTO-5 tape costs 15 times less than SATA disk when it comes to long-term storage of large quantities of data. Storing and cooling all of that data can also affect your costs. The five year energy cost of disk is 25 times more than that of tape. The 5 year cost of disk storage equates to more than the total cost of purchase and storage of tape. Choosing tape for your data can save you valuable space, energy, and money while still surpassing other formats in performance and reliability.
Lifespan
Not only is tape more reliable and cost-effective, but it also has the lifespan to add to its arsenal of benefits. Coming a long way from its past average of eight years, the life of tape storage can be expected to last at least 30 years. Proper storage can extend the life of tape even further, with data retrieval as far back as the 1960s. Tape is a much more stable format for retrieving long-term data, and is far less likely to crash due to its ability to separate the recording mechanism from the backup media.
As you can see, tape holds a world of mind-changing benefits when it comes to choosing a format for your data migration. For more information, give Tape Services Inc. a call at 1-800-370 TAPE(8273).