Using Offsite Data Archiving for Long Term Storage

The adage "Not all men are created equal", is also applicable to computer data. Data generated in any organization has different levels of criticality. Data can be classified as "absolutely essential", "not essential right now, but may be required", and "not essential any more". Data which is most critical at a certain point in time, may become less critical at a later time. It is well-known that about 1/3rd of the data in a company network is active data, while rest is inactive or static and rarely accessed. Such data, while no more relevant to day-to-day business processes, still have to be retained for purposes of analysis and comparative studies of business performance. Data retention is also required due to legal and statutory obligations.
Inactive data takes up storage space, and primary disk-based storage space has its cost. Logic dictates that that it should be stored on less expensive storage media, while losing none of its security, and should be accessible in a reasonable amount of time when required. It also needs appreciable effort and time for regular monitoring and tracking, so that data beyond the stipulated retention period can be discarded. Data retention period varies on the nature of data. Data pertaining to research, engineering design, statistics, etc., usually have a longer retention span, while financial data retention is mostly governed by business and statutory policies. Offsite archiving of inactive or "cold" data is a cost effective way to ensure that record retention policies are properly complied with, while freeing time and space for core business activities of the company.
The traditional way to store data offsite is to make copies of the data onto tape and then physically move the tapes offsite. Another media used are hard disks. Both these media are well-known for their unreliability and failure rate. The need for quick and easy access to large volume of archive data has given rise to other storage solutions.

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