One concern I have when doing backup-to-disk is the cost of off-site vaulting. Today I vault my backup tapes. If I begin doing to backup-to-disk I would still need the tapes, plus the added cost of disk. Is there a TCO or ROI model available for deciding the financial side of using backup-to-disk? How are other companies handling vaulting or DR when moving to a backup-to-disk solution?
Requires Free Membership to View
When you register for SearchDataBackup.com, you’ll also receive targeted emails from my team of award-winning editorial writers. Because your job never seems to get any easier, it’s our goal to keep you up-to-date on the latest backup tips, trends and technologies that will help you get the job done.
Rich Castagna, Editorial Director
Most companies who are backing up to disk are then copying the backups to tape for off-site/DR purposes. It closely maps to what you SHOULD have been doing all along (but very few people were doing), which is backing up to tape, then copying to another tape and sending one of those tapes off-site. If you weren't doing that, then yes, you must buy disk and tape. If you were copying from tape to tape, you simply copy from disk to tape. You MUST have a backup solution that automates this process for it to be effective.
Read Pierre Dorion's answer to this question.
This was first published in June 2004