Long-Term Care for Your Data: Page 2 of 6

Your data won't have an afterlife if you can't read it a few years down the road. So choose storage hardware that will survive as long as you keep your data. Keep in mind that storage hardware can break or fail easily--the mechanisms in older tape drives, for example, suffer a variety of debilities, including damaged tape-handling rollers.

At a company where I worked several years ago, we used older IBM QIC (Quarter-Inch Cartridge) drives for data restoration on a dual, redundant-server system. All our locations (more than 100) had these drives. When we had to restore data from backup, we used tape. Once, when we were updating code across our 250 servers, nearly all the tape drives in the field failed, so we had to send each location a working drive.

The tape drives had been cooled by an internal fan that drew in air through the cartridge slot and out of the back of the system to keep the internal mechanisms and circuit boards from overheating. Some of the units had been left on, and thanks to the constant flow of air from the fans, little drift sculptures of dirt had settled on the read-write heads and tape-handling mechanisms. The rubber tape-handling rollers had hardened and cracked in many of the drives, and the only ones that worked properly were those that had been accidentally turned off. These units were discontinued; even more frustrating was the difficulty we had finding used tape units to replace the broken ones.

The reality is that storage hardware isn't treated with the same loving care as the tapes. The hardware is not always stored properly--look in a dusty closet, drawer or even under your desk, and you might find the remains of an older tape-backup system. Therefore, when you plan for long-term storage, take into consideration the condition of the hardware you'll be using to retrieve your data. Make sure it's stored away according to the manufacturers' specifications for temperature and other environmental conditions. And, if you've had to replace a specific tape-drive system that has failed, don't leave your long-term data on that drive format.

Storage is typically arranged in tiers based on the importance of the data and the speed of access and recovery. Long-term storage sits at the bottom layers of the corporate data-aging stack.

The data stack looks something like this: First is mainline storage, where your primary storage systems, SANs (storage-area networks) and the fastest, most reliable storage reside. This is the best place for data you need regularly and quickly, such as project files. Next is secondary storage, typically in the form of direct-attached server storage and special-purpose storage. Third is nearline storage, generally used for data aging and disk-to-disk backup. At the bottom of the stack are the tape backup drives and automation systems--the end of the line for many companies' data.