{"id":7350,"date":"2021-08-12T13:24:57","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T11:24:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/?p=7350"},"modified":"2021-08-12T13:25:30","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T11:25:30","slug":"tape-backup-a-tech-explanation-advantageshistory-and-its-security-best-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/tape-backup-a-tech-explanation-advantageshistory-and-its-security-best-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"Tape backup-a tech explanation; advantages,history, and it’s security best practices"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time-approximately:<\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

Tape backup is the practice of periodically copying data from a\u00a0primary storage\u00a0device to a\u00a0tape cartridge\u00a0so the\u00a0data\u00a0can be recovered if there is a hard disk crash or failure. Tape backups can be done manually or be programmed to happen automatically with appropriate software.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Paul<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Paul Crocetti<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tape backup\u00a0systems\u00a0exist for needs ranging from backing up the hard disk on a personal computer to backing up large amounts of data storage for\u00a0archiving\u00a0and disaster recovery (DR) purposes in a large enterprise. Tape backups can also restore data to\u00a0storage\u00a0devices when needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tape backup advantages and use cases<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Tape can be one of the best options for fixing an unstructured data backup problem because of its inexpensive operational and ownership cost, capacity and speed. Magnetic tape is especially attractive in an era of massive data growth. Customers can copy and store archival and backup data on tape for use with\u00a0cloud seeding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0data transfer rate\u00a0for tape can be significantly faster than disk and on par with\u00a0flash drive\u00a0storage, with native write rates of at least 300 megabytes per second (MBps). For anyone concerned with backups increasing the\u00a0latency\u00a0of production storage, flash-to-tape, disk-to-disk-to-tape or other data\u00a0buffering\u00a0strategies can mask the tape write operation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Because disk is easier to restore data from, more secure and benefits from technologies such as\u00a0data deduplication, it has replaced tape as the preferred medium for backup. Tape is still a relevant medium for archiving, however, and remains in use in large enterprises that may have\u00a0petabytes\u00a0of data backed up on Tape libraries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Magnetic tape is well-suited for archiving because of its high capacity, low cost and durability. Tape is a linear recording system that is not good for random access. But in an archive, latency is less of an issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A brief history of tape<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Early on, magnetic tape was used as a primary data storage device. When other media provided better random access, the role of tape veered more toward backup and archive. There are still industries where tape is preferred as the data capture storage, such as motion picture recording (because of its durability) and the scientific community (for its capacity and write speeds).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tape libraries housed drives and tape cartridges with entire backup\u00a0data sets. For DR, companies would then transport backup tapes to off-site locations, often contracting with a service such as Iron Mountain to carry tapes to secure vaults on a daily or weekly basis. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Tape libraries actually originated in the mainframe world, where large computer systems ran compute jobs in batches. Computer operators would store a program and the data it used on tape so a job could be moved off the computer for temporary storage and reloaded when it needed to be run again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Recent innovations in the tape world, such as\u00a0LTO\u00a0and IBM\u2019s Linear Tape File System (LTFS), have removed the need for\u00a0backup software. Launched in 2000,\u00a0LTO-1\u00a0held 100 gigabytes (GB) of data per cartridge. Since then, the LTO Consortium has released a new generation of LTO every two or three years, each approximately doubling storage capacity. And\u00a0files\u00a0and\u00a0objects\u00a0copied directly to a tape repository running LTFS technology retain their native structure and metadata.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Magnetic tape vs. disk-based backup<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For larger organizations that use disk-to-disk backups, tape can augment the primary backup target by providing longer and more durable data storage than what a\u00a0disk array\u00a0can provide by itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customers may improve their backup process by combining the two, since disk and tape have their own strengths and weaknesses:<\/p>\n\n\n\n