Who should be looking at and considering file archiving?

Who should be looking at and considering file archiving?

File archiving is a valuable tool for any storage organization that needs to free up storage capacity -- shifting unused data off of active storage systems. For example, you may not know if you'll need a piece of data in five years, but you don't know if it's safe (appropriate) to delete it either, so you place the data into a long-term storage system where it's accessible if needed. That long-term storage is the archive. Design documents, software builds and images are just a few of the data types that are often relegated to archives.

Of course, many companies save data to comply with government, industry or self-imposed regulations. There's a great deal of concern with established regulations, like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), but the recent changes to the Federal Rules for Civil Procedure (FRCP) state that anyone possibly subject to a future court proceeding has to be able to produce the required information. This impacts a much broader audience than SOX or other compliance regulations because anyone who might be involved in litigation must take appropriate steps to protect and preserve their data.

Still, if you determine that a piece of data has no possible future value or bearing on future litigation, there is no reason to archive it -- you can delete it. Data that can be reproduced or regenerated may not need to

    Requires Free Membership to View

    Login

    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

    By submitting your registration information to SearchDataBackup.com you agree to receive email communications from TechTarget and TechTarget partners. We encourage you to read our Privacy Policy which contains important disclosures about how we collect and use your registration and other information. If you reside outside of the United States, by submitting this registration information you consent to having your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States. Your use of SearchDataBackup.com is governed by our Terms of Use. You may contact us at webmaster@TechTarget.com.

be archived. Another school of thought takes a more conservative approach and keeps every piece of data.

Go back to the beginning of the File Archiving FAQ Guide.


This was first published in April 2007

Join the conversationComment

Share
Comments

    Results

    Contribute to the conversation

    All fields are required. Comments will appear at the bottom of the article.
    Back to top