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Archival Storage

What is Archival Storage?

Archival Storage is a source for data that is not needed for an organization’s everyday operations, but may have to be accessed occasionally.

By utilizing an archival storage, organizations can leverage to secondary sources, while still maintaining the protection of the data.

Utilizing archival storage sources reduces primary storage costs required and allows an organization to maintain data that may be required for regulatory or other requirements.

Data archiving, also known as data tiering, is intended to protect older information that is not needed for everyday operations, but may have to be accessed occasionally. Data Archival and Tiering storage is a tool for reducing your primary storage need and the related costs, rather than acting as a data recovery tool.

solutions_that_archiveWhy Archival Storage?

  • Some data archives allow data to be read-only to protect it from modification, while other data archiving products treat data as to allow users to modify it.
  • The benefit of data archiving is that it reduces the cost of primary storage. Alternatively, archive storage costs less because it is typically based on a low-performance, high-capacity storage medium.
  • Data archiving takes a number of different forms. Options can be online data storage, which places archive data onto disk systems where it is readily accessible. Archives are frequently file-based, but object storage is also growing in popularity. A key challenge when using object storage to archive file-based data is the impact it can have on users and applications. To avoid changing paradigms from file to object and breaking user and application access, use data management solutions that provide a file interface to data that is archived as objects.
  • Another archival system uses offline data storage where archive data is written to tape or other removable media using data archiving software rather than being kept online. Data archiving on tape consumes less power than disk systems, translating to lower costs.
  • A third option is using cloud data storage, such as those offered by Amazon and Microsoft Azure – this can be less expensive if done right, but requires ongoing investment. A Smart Data Migration strategy is essential.
  • The data archiving process typically uses automated software, which will automatically move “cold” data via policies set by an administrator. Today, a popular approach to data archiving is to make the archive “transparent” – so the archived data is not only online but the archived data is fully accessed exactly as before by users and applications, so they experience no change in behavior. The patented Komprise Transparent Move Technology is designed to allow you to transparently archive and tier data.

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