One of the most common questions that come up again and again in data backup and recovery is "What's the different between data backups and archives? Data
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archives are often confused with data backups. Data backups are used to restore data in case
it is lost, corrupted or destroyed. In contrast, data archives protect older information that is
not needed for everyday business operations but may occasionally need to be accessed. It's crucial
to learn data
archiving best practices -- an effective data
archiving strategy is a necessary part of every IT organization.
Data archiving is the practice of moving data that's no longer being used to a separate storage device. Data backup expert and a senior consultant with Long View Systems Inc. Pierre Dorion defines data archiving as "a single or a collection of historical records specifically selected for long-term retention and future reference." In addition, data archives consist of older data that is still important and necessary for future reference, as well as data that must be retained for regulatory compliance. Data archives are also indexed and have search capabilities so that files and parts of files can be easily located and retrieved.
To help you stay up to date on the latest information on data archiving best practices and data backup, we've collected our top five tips on data backup vs. archiving. Learn why you shouldn't use your backups as archives; whether you use should tape, disk, or the cloud for archiving; and if you go with cloud archiving, how to choose the best cloud archiving service. In addition, learn about how archiving your data prior to backup can increase your data reduction ratios.
DATA ARCHIVING BEST PRACTICE #1------------------------------------------------------
Data backup
vs. data archiving
The backup vs. archive debate has been going on for years, and backup and recovery pundits are
constantly saying "backups aren't archives." But data backup and recovery software vendors have
started to integrate different functionality into their software, so is this still true? Some
examples include data deduplication and data lifecycle management with storage tiering. Is backup
catching up with archive functionality, or are the two so fundamentally different that there will
always be a void that backup will never be able to bridge? Learn about data backup
vs. data archive in this expert tip.
DATA ARCHIVING BEST PRACTICE #2------------------------------------------------------
Don't
use your archiving storage as backup storage
Another important distinction between backups and archives, says W. Curtis Preston, independent backup and recovery expert,
is backups are for disaster recovery and data archives are for discovery. A data backup is for
restoring lost or corrupted files. So if you accidentally deleted some files, and you need to
restore things to the way they previously looked, if you have your backup, you're still in
business. In addition, traditional backup software isn't going to help you with archiving so it's
important to have separate data
archiving software. In this podcast with Curtis, learn about the do's and dont's of using backup
storage as archiving storage.
DATA ARCHIVING BEST PRACTICE #3------------------------------------------------------
Data
archiving with tape, disk or the cloud
The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) defines
an archive as "A collection of data objects, perhaps with associated metadata, in a storage system
whose primary purpose is the long-term preservation and retention of that data." In addition, data
that is archived is not usually expected to be readily searchable. This definition sounds simple,
but presents many problems for administrators. For example, the type of media the data is stored on
will affect the speed and ease with which it's restored. Your three basic choices for archiving are
tape, disk and the cloud. But how do you choose what's best for your organization? Which is the
most expensive? In this article, get the answers to these questions, and learn about data
archiving and tape, disk, and cloud storage.
DATA ARCHIVING BEST PRACTICE #4------------------------------------------------------
Cloud
archiving services
As mentioned earlier, a data archiving strategy that's being implemented by more and more
organizations is to use a cloud
archiving service. Even though there are a plethora of cloud data storage providers, there are
only two online storage services that can really be considered viable for enterprises interested in
cloud archiving. In the author of this article's opinion, these two companies are Autonomy Zantaz
and Iron Mountain Inc. In this article, learn about the pros and cons of these two different cloud
archiving services, and how to choose
the best cloud service provider for archiving.
DATA ARCHIVING BEST PRACTICE #5------------------------------------------------------
Data
archiving increasing data reduction when done prior to data deduplication
In enterprise data storage, the theme for the past year has been to "do more with less," and some
users are controlling data growth by archiving their inactive data before it ever enters the data
backup cycle. While this archiving requires some work, storage managers at organizations with data
archiving in place have found additional benefits, particularly in data backup, another place where
data growth has challenged budgets and infrastructures this year. When this process is done before
data deduplication, some users are able to reduce even more data. In this article, learn about data
archiving and data deduplication and how using both of these technologies can reduce your
backup data.
Editor's tip: For even more information on data backup and data archiving best practices,
bookmark our special section on archiving
and backup news, trends and tips.
This was first published in May 2010
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