White Paper
Online Backup Vs. Tape - A Cost And Reliability Comparison
•White Paper: Online Backup Vs. Tape - A Cost and Reliability Comparison
By Intronis
Backing up data has become a standard business practice, and in most industries it is an operational requirement. With 90% of companies going out of business within two years of failing to recover lost data from a major data loss¹, backing up important files and information using a secure and reliable method has never been so critical. When instituting a backup strategy, there are several factors to consider before choosing a method. These factors can help businesses determine whether an online backup solution such as Intronis Online Backup + Recovery would be more secure, cost-effective and reliable than portable media backup, such as tape, for their organization.
Reliability
One major factor to consider when choosing a backup method is reliability. Is the method
prone to failure? Will the data be accessible in the event files need to be restored? With
portable media such as tapes, CD's floppy disks, and pen drives, you run several risks.
Firstly, tapes and disks are infamously failure-prone and are susceptible to damage by the
environment and improper handling. They can also be ruined by electromagnetic fields that
are, strangely enough, emitted by electronic devices that create the data. Secondly, when
there is a need to recover files, many times portable media fails. Storage Magazine reports
that over 34% of companies do not test their backups and of those tested 77% found that
tape backups failed to restore. According to Microsoft,
42% of attempted recoveries from tape backups in
the past year have failed. In addition, Ben Matheson,
group product manager for Microsoft Data Protection
Manager, said, "More than 50 percent of customers
we've surveyed said their current backup solutions do
not fill their needs."
•White Paper: Online Backup Vs. Tape - A Cost and Reliability Comparison
