Data Backup

Tape Backup vs Online Backup

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Comparing tape backup with online backup -

Many businesses choose to back up their critical data using tape technology. Despite developments in tape technology and improved processes for moving tapes between sites, online backup has significant advantages over tape, and even if your organisation has an existing tape-based backup regime, adding online data backup to the mix will deliver significant increases in backup speed, effectiveness and reliability.

With a tape or disk backup solution, you may not be able to quickly recover your data if you can't access the the office where the equipment is situated, either through fire, flood, or terrorist attack or civil unrest. If your tape drive or backup device is damaged, then unless you have rapid response cover from the manufacturer or a third party, you may have to wait several business days to be shipped a replacement, all before the restore operation can even begin.

We examine some key features of online backup compared to tape:

Tape Backup
Online Backup
Capital Expenditure
High - Especially for large data volumes or complex backup requirements.
None (ongoing monthly fees apply)
Total Cost of Owenership
High - Hardware maintenance, human resource costs, transport costs
Low - Automated backups, no tape changes, and cost of storage decreases as storage size grows
Scalability
Limited to tape capacity, with potentially unpredictable upgrade cost
Unlimited, with predictable cost scale
Security
Limited to physical security of tapes.
Encryption not always used.
Two copies of all data.
No physical media to secure.
All data encrypted.
Automation
Offsite storage needs manual intervention
Entire process, including offsite storage is fully automated.
Restoration
Time-intensive process to restore
Easy and quick recovery of files.
Full recovery uses physical media for speed.
Future Proof
No: backup volumes can outgrow tape capacity.
Changing tape technology can render your solution obsolete
Yes: Constant investment and upgrade to ensure storage and features keep pace with customer needs.
Backup Window
Long for full backups
Differential / Incremental Backups shorten the window, but have management overhead and create dependencies on other tapes
After the initial backup, which can use removable physical media, backups only back up changed data, significantly shortening backup windows.
Retention
Retention is limited to the number of tapes you can physically store. Newer tape technologies require significant investment in tapes.
Unlimited: We store 30 days by default, but you can purchase additional storage capacity to increase this to any value you want.

For more information, see our Online Backup Technology page, Online Backup Frequently Asked Questions or Contact Us.

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0800 862 0095
sales@lucidnetworks.co.uk