Archive and Legacy Data
With IT governance featuring so highly on the storage agenda, it’s no wonder that the integrity and availability of all data held within the organisation is being called into question. And it doesn’t stop at the active data stored on desktops and servers. It doesn’t even stop at back-up disk-based and tape solutions. Data that may have been created many years ago on now redundant hardware and operating systems must be available for internal or regulatory compliance purposes – an ongoing headache for many IT departments!
Whilst the legacy data was intended to be available for future restore, as the age and importance of the data lessened so in turn did the integrity and availability of the information stored on the tape. Technological advancements have been significant in recent years and maintaining expensive back-up hardware and software has either not been a cost-effective option, and so has been ignored, or else has been draining the funds available for future IT investments. And, with the current regulatory landscape that looks set to continue for the foreseeable future, it is clear neither of these are/will be acceptable from this point forward.
So what are the options? Well it would seem that this may not be as difficult to resolve as was first expected. A number of options are available including:
• An integrity check to satisfy audit requirements
• Conversion to a more appropriate platform, maybe to retire legacy hardware
• Migration to a different format to support different business applications
• Moving to a different media to reduce volumes and cut storage costs
• Retirement of legacy back-up systems and software
• Analysis to support e-discovery or litigation needs (should this be the reason that you need to determine the information content in the first place)
For more information read our archive/legacy data white paper that looks in depth at archive and legacy data and what your IT department should now be considering.
Alternatively, read a case study about one of our customers who regonised a problem in only having 2 copies of business critical data and so came to eMag for optical duplication.
Sign up to our monthly newsletter.
Read latest newsletter.
Learn more about archive and legacy data; the problems facing modern data centres and how eMag can help to resolve them.
Learn about how eMag helped a client to overcome issues with data held on an optical platter and conform to FSA regulations.