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Heloise Montini
Heloise Montini is a content writer whose background in journalism make her an asset when researching and writing tech content. Also, her personal aspirations in creative writing and PC gaming make her articles on data storage and data recovery accessible for a wide audience.
Laura Pompeu
With 10 years of experience in journalism, SEO & digital marketing, Laura Pompeu uses her skills and experience to manage (and sometimes write) content focused on technology and business strategies.
Bogdan Glushko
CEO at SalvageData Recovery, Bogdan Glushko has over 18 years of experience in high-security data recovery. Over the years, he's been able to help restore data after logical errors, physical failures, or even ransomware attacks, for individuals, businesses, and government agencies alike.
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It’s no secret that data storage technology has come a long way in recent years. With so many options available, it’s difficult to decide which storage device option is best for your business. For example, tape storage is largely used as a long-term backup device, however, before choosing it for your company, consider the magnetic tape backup advantages and disadvantages.
Top Summary: Tape storage is still widely used today, thanks to its many benefits. However, you should consider the pros and cons before deciding on your data backup method.
What’s tape backup?
Tape backup is the process of copying data from a storage device into a magnetic tape. The copied data is written to the tape sequentially, one file after another. Accessing the information is also done sequentially, which means it is not possible to randomly find files saved on it.
It’s a great option for off-site backup due to its durability and ease to store and manage.
There are several manufacturers that not only fabricate and sell tapes, but they as well keep working on improving this well-established data storage technology.
Some magnetic tape vendors include:
- IBM
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
- FujiFilm
- Sony
- Dell
- Quantum
- Spectra Logic
- XenData
- StarWind
- Strongbox Data
Advantages of magnetic tape backup
From its price to the security level offered, tapes offer great benefits as a backup method, including off-site and long-term backup.
Price & cost-effectivity
One advantage of tape backup is that it’s very affordable. This makes tape an attractive option for businesses on a budget.
Tape backup is also very cost-effective. The initial investment might be higher than some storage options, but over time it will save you money. Magnetic tape has a long shelf life and can be reused multiple times.
Portability
Magnetic tapes are small and lightweight, making them easy to transport off-site. This is important in the event of a disaster, such as a fire or a flood, when you need to quickly move your data to safety.
Reliability
Magnetic tapes are designed to withstand harsh conditions, although it is very recommended to keep them in proper rooms, with controlled humidity and temperature, to guarantee their expected lifespan. This makes them ideal for long-term storage. Also, you’ll still have both your tape and the data on it after up to 30 years.
Data security
The data on a magnetic tape cartridge is stored offline, which means that any cyber-attack and other online threats offer no risk to your tape backup.
Minimum power need
You don’t need a cooling system nor keep your tape connected to keep your data saved. Unless you access the data on it, tapes will not use energy.
Disadvantages of magnetic tape backup
Tape backup has a clear con to it that’s the fact it requires a special drive or tape library. However, this is not the only downside.
If you need speed to save or restore data from your backup, or even if you want to find specific files on your device, then the tape backup is not the best choice for you.
Here you have other tape backup disadvantages:
Low speed
One of the biggest disadvantages is that it’s slow. Because data is written to tapes sequentially, it can take a long time to back up large amounts of data.
And if you need to restore your data from a tape backup, it can also take a long time to retrieve the information you need.
Time-consuming
Backing up data to a magnetic tape cartridge can take several hours, depending on the amount of data being backed up.
And it also reflects on the time you need to recover your data since the whole data recovery can take a long time. Here, your business may face downtime longer than expected by your disaster recovery plan.
TL; DR: When should you use tape backup? If you’re looking for a reliable and affordable option for backing up your data, tape backup is a good choice. However, if you need to restore your data quickly, consider another storage option.
Tape backup is a popular storage option for businesses, but it’s not the best option for everyone. Before deciding, weigh the pros and cons of using tape storage technology.
SalvageData experts have the experience and proper tools to restore data from tape storage. Send your device to a free in-lab evaluation and have your data backup restored with our secure data recovery service.
