The Waste of Tape

Every business needs to backup their data. If your company is hit with a disaster, and there is no backup in place, then it will be a critical hit to your operation. Backing up data with tape is a widely used solution, and while this is better than nothing, it is very inefficient compared to using BDR.

The Inefficiency of Tape Backup
Backup and Disaster Recovery is a complete backup solution offered by Directive. One of the most appealing aspects about our BDR solution is that it doesn't require you to do anything; every step is automatically taken care of. Our BDR solution is way more efficient than backing up with tape. Tape backup requires multiple time-consuming steps that may end up costing your business more money than you have originally anticipated.

• Switching Out Tape: One of the biggest burdens that come with using a tape backup system is being required to switch out the tape full of data from the previous workday, with a blank tape for the upcoming day.
• Transporting Tape: With your backup tape full and switched out, you will now have to transport the tape to storage. This might be a simple task if you store the tape in the same room; but if you follow the best practice of storing tape off-site, then you are likely getting tired of all the extra physical steps that this adds to your daily routine.
• Tape Inventory and Cataloging: Your tape full of data also has to be labeled, organized, and an accurate inventory must be kept. This can be a major time drain.
• Recovering Tape Data: If you just experienced a disaster, and your system goes down, then you will be thankful that you have tapes that you can fall back on. However, all of the time that is put into retrieving the old tape, getting your system back online, and restoring the data will count as downtime. Additionally, the recovery of data from your tape backups is excruciatingly slow.

The Expense of Tape Backup
The reason that companies go with tape backup is because they perceive that it is the economical choice. Today, cloud services and hard disk drives are more affordable than ever, meaning that tape backup is no longer the cheapest route. Additionally, there are several hidden expenses associated with tape backup that companies may not have considered when they originally signed up for it.

• Tape Replacement Costs: With a BDR solution, all of your data is stored on a server off-site. With tape backup, you need to routinely buy blank tapes. The total costs from all of these tapes will add up, and your wallet is one thing that cannot be backed up.
• Tape Data Integrity: The data stored on tape only has a life cycle of roughly 2 years. After that, the integrity of your data is not guaranteed. This means that if there is an old tape that contains information that you value, you will have to buy a new tape and copy the information sometime before you hit the two year mark.
• Tape Maintenance Costs: Remember all of those extra steps of inefficiency that we previously mentioned? When your staff goes through all of those steps in order to maintain a tape backup system, they are most likely on the clock and getting paid.

The Backup and Disaster Recovery solution from Directive has been designed to improve upon the inefficient and expensive shortcomings of backing up with tape. The best part of BDR is that everything is automated! This means that not only is BDR a more affordable and more efficient backup solution, but when using BDR, you will be empowered to sit back, focus on your business, and not have to worry about data loss. Call Directive at 607.433.2200 for more details on how you can backup your company's data with the best solution on the market!