Is cloud storage impacting tape use for long-term data retention?

Has cloud storage made much of a dent in the number of organizations using tape for long-term data retention?

There is no question that there is a lot of talk about abandoning tape as an archiving medium, but ultimately, it is not the technology that will determine the longevity of tape as a medium, but operational costs and business process.

Download this free guide

Snapshot of top 2018 backup tech: CDM, complaint-free archiving, ransomware detection vendors

The SearchStorage.com team names the most promising ransomware detection products, 4 rules for complaint-free archiving, how to use copy data management for effective recovery, and more. Download your e-zine copy here.

Start Download

• Corporate E-mail Address:

  You forgot to provide an Email Address.

  This email address doesn’t appear to be valid.

  This email address is already registered. Please login.

  You have exceeded the maximum character limit.

  Please provide a Corporate E-mail Address.

By submitting my Email address I confirm that I have read and accepted the Terms of Use and Declaration of Consent.

By submitting your personal information, you agree that TechTarget and its partners may contact you regarding relevant content, products and special offers.

You also agree that your personal information may be transferred and processed in the United States, and that you have read and agree to the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy.

Tape continues to be the lowest-cost storage medium. Comparing tape with cloud, one thing that tape has over cloud is that over time, tape will always be cheaper. While cloud storage may have a lower cost per month, it is ultimately an annuity payment. So long as data is kept, there will be a charge. Depending on the actual monthly charges multiplied by the number of months data is kept, generally tape becomes cheaper than cloud at around the second or third year.

While small and medium-sized businesses are looking to cloud as a convenient medium, larger organizations have not strayed too far from tape. For larger enterprises, it is not only the cost of the tape cartridges, but also the cost of changing business processes. It is reengineering the processes that carry the highest risk to the enterprise.

In addition, from a technology perspective, tape has the benefit of being both off-site and offline.