Disk-based backup

How to configure shadow copies on file servers

When you enable the shadow copies service on your shared folders, you give your end users the flexibility to restore deleted files or revert a file to an earlier version. Continue Reading

What are the pros and cons of cloud backup?

Know which type of cloud backup you want to use and the advantages and disadvantages that come with cloud backups before you trust your data to a third-party provider. Continue Reading

Cloud backup vs. traditional backup: Advantages, disadvantages

Cloud backup vs. traditional backup is an important discussion. Although the cloud backup market is soaring, traditional backup players also have much to offer your organization. Continue Reading

The 7 critical backup strategy best practices to keep data safe

This comprehensive guide explains backup basics, the issues affecting risk and the seven critical backup strategies you need to keep data safe. Continue Reading

Data backup failure: Top 5 causes and tips for prevention

What can you do to prevent data backup failure? Learn how using the 3-2-1 rule, turning to cloud backup and following other practical steps can help protect your data. Continue Reading

Types of backup explained: Full, incremental, differential, etc.

There are several different types of backup. Here's how to choose the best way to safeguard your data and recover appropriately in the event of an incident. Continue Reading

The ins and outs of unstructured data protection

Protecting unstructured data requires a few extra considerations for backup admins. Growing storage capacity requirements and regulatory compliance are critical. Continue Reading

RAID data protection quiz: Test your knowledge

How well do you know RAID? It may be time to test your know-how. Find out how much you know about RAID levels, origins and their relationship to data backup with this quiz. Continue Reading

Continuous data protection advantages and disadvantages

Continuous data protection can eliminate your backup window. However, there are many issues to consider, including application and operating system compatibility. Continue Reading

RAID 1 vs. RAID 0: Which level is best for data protection?

RAID 1 and RAID 0 are two of the most basic RAID levels. While one offers better performance, backup admins may choose the level that provides redundancy to better protect data. Continue Reading

Craft a secure and reliable backup redundancy strategy

Backup and redundancy are not interchangeable. By using both, backup admins can avoid critical data loss and help ensure recovery. However, watch out for some common missteps. Continue Reading

Storage media showdown: The benefits of tape vs. disk backup

Tape and disk are established as reliable backup storage, but which one is best for your organization? Consider factors such as cost, performance and security in your decision. Continue Reading

RAID 6 vs. RAID 10: Which is better to prevent data loss?

There are numerous RAID configurations to choose from, but navigating the nuances of each can take a lot of work. In the case of RAID 6 and 10, both have distinct pros and cons. Continue Reading

Infinidat adds cyber resilience software to InfiniGuard appliance

Infinidat upgraded its purpose-built backup appliance, InfiniGuard, with anti-ransomware software and boosted its DRAM to provide faster recovery times. Continue Reading

RAID 5 vs. RAID 6: Capacity, performance, durability

RAID 5 and RAID 6 provide solid data protection, but both have their pros and cons. Find out what to compare when deciding between RAID 5 vs. RAID 6 in this tip. Continue Reading

AHCI vs. RAID: Which is better for performance?

The Advanced Host Controller Interface and RAID are fundamental concepts for running an efficient data management and storage infrastructure. Learn the AHCI and RAID basics. Continue Reading

Veritas NetBackup 9 adds Flex Scale scale-out architecture

NetBackup 9 offers a new scale-out deployment aimed at software-defined, hyper-converged data centers, allowing customers to add storage nodes as they see fit. Continue Reading

Candy-maker sweetens IT setup with VxRail, PowerProtect

Warrell Corp. treated itself to a new IT infrastructure to drive its candy manufacturing, adding hyper-converged backup appliances and cloud DR from Dell EMC. Continue Reading

X Series Arcserve backup appliances have built-in security

Arcserve X Series appliances have Sophos Intercept X Advanced built in and can scale to three petabytes. All Arcserve backup appliances now ship with Sophos software. Continue Reading

Rivals Dell EMC, Unitrends refresh backup appliance lineups

When upgrading their backup appliance portfolios, Dell EMC and Unitrends addressed continued demand for backup hardware. Both also rolled out new unified management interfaces. Continue Reading

RAID vs. backup: Learn the differences and benefits of both

In a battle of RAID vs. backup, both could win. While RAID offers disk failure protection, it falls short in other areas where backup comes in handy. Continue Reading

Law firm makes compelling case for Pure Storage all-flash

CSK Legal first used Pure Storage all-flash arrays to move VMs to VMware vSphere. Primary Pure FlashArray replicates VMs to second target used exclusively for backups. Continue Reading

Modern HDD technologies that are bringing hard disks back

Don't write off HDDs just yet. Energy-assisted technologies such as MAMR and HAMR may keep hard disk drives competitive in an evolving secondary storage market. Continue Reading

HAMR vs. MAMR, and the future of high-capacity hard drives

Energy-assisted hard drive technology is here, and heat-assisted and microwave-assisted magnetic recording technologies are about to bring even more changes to the HDD market. Continue Reading

SMR, HAMR and other HDD technologies you can build on

Hard disk drives could make a comeback in 2020, as new technologies such as SMR, HAMR, MAMR and dual actuators provide more capacity and speed for secondary storage. Continue Reading

SaaS-based Unitrends Helix automates tedious backup tasks

Unitrends Helix automates the tasks of monitoring, remediating and maintaining backup servers. While tedious, they are necessary to prevent failed backups. Continue Reading

Quantum object storage expands with ActiveScale purchase

Quantum object storage will be used in conjunction with StorNext file system technologies to tackle unstructured data associated with streaming video and surveillance. Continue Reading

With Time on its hands, Meredith drives storage consolidation

Following an acquisition of Time Inc., Meredith Corp. dumped most of its traditional IT gear and added newer technology developed around virtualization, convergence and the cloud. Continue Reading

Archive vs. backup and why you need to know the differences

Archiving and data backup are both key pieces of data protection. They can complement each other, but both provide distinct and important capabilities. Continue Reading

IBM Spectrum Protect supports container backups

IBM focuses on data protection with backup support for container volumes in Kubernetes, Red Hat OpenShift environments, VMs in VMware Cloud on AWS; adds new Virtual Tape Library. Continue Reading

Backup deduplication: A complete guide

Backup deduplication has moved from cutting-edge technology to mainstream staple. Learn about the different types, benefits and challenges of deduplication. Continue Reading

RAID 50: How to select the right RAID level

RAID 50 combines striping with distributed parity for reduced data loss and better performance. Is RAID 50 the right configuration for your organization? Continue Reading

Oscar-winning studio tames file data with Oracle, Igneous

Making movies is a file-intensive business, and Hollywood studios must give their artists the right storage technologies to store, manage and protect business-critical data. Continue Reading

Erasure coding vs. RAID: Pros and cons for hyper-convergence

Hyper-converged systems, like any other, require data protection. We describe using RAID and erasure coding for hyper-convergence to help you pick the best option for your HCI. Continue Reading

7 rules for effective data backup procedures

If you're responsible for data backups on multiple systems, strong policies are highly recommended. This tip gives you seven rules to follow for effective data backup procedures. Continue Reading

How to make the most of secondary data storage workloads

You get more out of your data when you use secondary storage effectively. Taking advantage of disk-based and hyper-converged backups -- and copy data management -- will help. Continue Reading

How EHT's black hole image data is stored and protected

The Event Horizon Telescope team had to find a way to capture, store, process and back up petabytes of radio signal data to create the world's first black hole image. Continue Reading

Top 4 NAS backup strategies for your data protection

Whether justified or simply because the technology was misunderstood, backing up NAS devices was once considered a challenge. Now, you have several options for proper NAS backup. Continue Reading

Unitrends Recovery Series Gen 8 backup appliances

Unitrends has updated its Recovery Series backup appliance to Gen 8, with added features like machine learning-based ransomware protection and automatic recovery testing. Continue Reading

Quantum backup appliance portfolio grows by two

The Quantum backup appliance lineup gets refreshed with the addition of the DXi4800 and DXi9000 series. But the vendor is staying away from integrated appliances at the moment. Continue Reading

Backup hardware devices: 2018 Products of the Year finalists

Some finalists in the 2018 Products of the Year backup hardware category aim to entice data-rich SMBs, or carve their niche by branching out beyond backup and recovery. Continue Reading

In-vehicle mobile data storage is Quantum's next target

Quantum Mobile Storage is designed to capture vehicle data from self-driving cars and easily offload it to a Quantum StorNext appliance. It's built to handle harsh, mobile environments. Continue Reading

Compression, deduplication and encryption: What's the difference?

Learn the distinctions and similarities among data compression, dedupe and encryption as these data protection methods gain importance in everyday storage. Continue Reading

Commvault appliance lineup expands by two

Commvault moves its HyperScale appliance platform into the enterprise with the HS3300 and into remote and branch offices with the Remote Office Appliance. Continue Reading

Inline deduplication vs. post-processing: Data dedupe best practices

Will inline or post-processing deduplication work better for your data protection platform? There are several products on the market that offer these capabilities. Continue Reading

HPE StoreOnce backup adds capacity, protection capabilities

Hewlett Packard Enterprise spruces up StoreOnce secondary storage with federated management of up to 100 appliances. HPE also deepened the StoreOnce integration with Commvault. Continue Reading

Create a backup image in 7 easy steps

Learn how to generate an image-based backup using our step-by-step instructions. Just remember to perform this activity in a test system to avoid wiping out source data. Continue Reading

5D data storage and the future of optical technology

Researchers say revolutionary 5D optical storage could protect hundreds of terabytes of data for billions of years, far beyond the capabilities of current storage media. Continue Reading

How have disk backups changed in recent years?

Disk-based backup provides newer features that can speed and ease recovery. IT should take advantage of instant recovery and virtual lab capabilities. Continue Reading

Cohesity backup replaces legacy EMC at Piedmont HealthCare

A healthcare firm doesn't take full advantage of Cohesity secondary storage capabilities, but finds its backup and recovery features simpler and faster. Continue Reading

Dell EMC unveils the DD3300, its latest Data Domain appliance

Dell EMC's latest addition to the Data Domain line targets SMBs and enterprises with remote offices. The system includes Data Domain Boost technology and cloud tiering software. Continue Reading

Build data storage reliability into a backup infrastructure

In today's market, there are a variety of data backup options. Here's how to make sure your organization's essential data will always be there when it is needed. Continue Reading

Data backup tools: Users want to handle more data more easily

Businesses want data backup that handles more data than ever, but with software and hardware that's easier to implement and manage than what they're already using. Continue Reading

Disaggregation enables on-demand resource pool management and creation

Disaggregation may not be a new concept, but it has become more important to IT in recent years. Here, it means breaking computers down to the core elements of compute, memory, I/O, storage, cache, network fabric and so on, to enable resource pool management and create more agile, cost-effective data centers. Done correctly, disaggregation lets you stand up and break down infrastructures almost instantly while better serving the needs of individual applications. Meanwhile, resource utilization soars, and resource pool management costs decline because of the automation that's enabled. Delve into the world of disaggregation and find out how vendors are applying the concept to their products.

Hybrid cloud storage can let you run, manage and move primary storage workloads between the cloud and on-premises data center. It can also improve IT agility and cut costs. Today, a number of products and services fulfill the promise of the hybrid cloud like never before, knocking down barriers that have inhibited wider adoption. Hybrid cloud products open new possibilities for deploying production applications, but you must choose wisely.

Pundits have predicted the demise of the hard disk for years. Not only is solid-state much faster than hard disks, the price differential between the two storage technologies is rapidly disappearing. Yet the HDD vs. SDD controversy continues with the death of the former still a long way off. The question shouldn't be when hard disks will disappear, but instead, how to best use flash technology within the memory-storage continuum that starts with tape and goes to L1 cache, the fastest and most expensive memory in a system.

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Dell EMC IDPA changes vendor's backup strategy

The Dell EMC Integrated Data Protection Appliance is the vendor's first integrated enterprise backup target. What does this mean for physical Data Domain appliances? Continue Reading

EMC launches DD VE, virtual edition of Data Domain

EMC unveils the virtual edition of its Data Domain disk library, DD VE, allowing the Data Domain operating system to run inside a VMware hypervisor and back up to any hardware. Continue Reading

Oracle Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance

The Oracle Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance is integrated with RMAN and Oracle Enterprise Manager and is designed to drastically reduce data-loss exposure. Continue Reading

How to choose the right snapshot method

Snapshots and replication have become data protection tools of choice, but finding the right snapshot method for your data center can be challenging. Continue Reading

What is the best archival media type?

Many archival media types are available, including disk and cloud, but their level of reliability and storage density varies. Continue Reading

What's the best way to protect against HDD failure?

HDD failure can put bytes of data at risk. Is multi-copy mirroring or erasure coding the more efficient data protection approach? Continue Reading

EMC World 2015: Expect backup, flash, future directions

EMC will roll out products in its Data Domain, XtremIO and ViPR platforms at EMC World 2015, but what about a CEO succession plan? Continue Reading

What is Data Domain Boost and what is it used for?

SearchDataBackup Senior Site Editor Andrew Burton explains what EMC's Data Domain Boost software is designed for, how it works, and which products it supports in this Expert Answer. Continue Reading

Choosing the right data snapshot approach

Independent backup expert Brien Posey compares the various methods for creating a data snapshot in this Expert Answer. Continue Reading

How to dispose of unwanted backup media

Brien Posey looks at the inherent problems with backup media disposal. Because it contains sensitive data, you must dispose of it safely. Continue Reading

As a backup target, when is VTL better than NAS?

Eric Slack of Storage Switzerland says that, as a backup target, a VTL might be a better choice than NAS. Continue Reading

Backup challenges: Slow backup and recovery, growing capacity demands

Our recent survey data indicates slow backup and recovery, growing capacity demands and virtual server backup remain IT pain points. Continue Reading

Backup challenges: Slow backup and recovery, growing capacity demands

Our recent survey data indicates slow backup and recovery, growing capacity demands and virtual server backup remain IT pain points. Continue Reading

Protecting petabytes: Best practices for big data backup

How do you protect the massive data sets? Learn the best practices and products used for big data backup disaster recovery. Continue Reading

SAN backup and recovery

Moving data can complicate your backup efforts. In this tip, you’ll learn backup goals for SAN environments and backup methods to achieve those goals. Continue Reading

Quantum plans source-side dedupe for DXi

Quantum's CEO Jon Gacek revealed that the company plans to add source-side data deduplication to its DXi disk backup platform during a quarterly earnings call this week. Continue Reading

Data archiving methods and best practices for small businesses

Improper data archiving methods or improper use of archiving software can lead to legal problems in your business. Find out how to avoid data archiving problems with these top six articles on data archiving. Continue Reading

Solving common data deduplication system problems

Still not getting the deduplication ratios vendors are promising? Learn about the most common problems with deduplication systems and how to fix them. Continue Reading

As the WORM turns: The pros and cons of WORM disk vs. tape

Learn about how WORM disk is still an important option for data retention, and about the pros and cons of using WORM disk vs. tape. Continue Reading

Virtual tape libraries vs. disk-to-disk backup in small business storage environments

SMBs have several disk backup options to choose from. Which is more popular, VTLs or disk-to-disk backup? Continue Reading

Data backup and recovery FAQs

Check out our FAQs for information on a variety of topics from tape backup to data deduplication to CDP and more. Continue Reading

Fail-in-place systems: Avoiding hard disk drive failures

Fail-in-place storage systems, such Atrato's V1000 and Xiotech's Emprise 5000 or ISE, can virtually eliminate hard disk drive replacement service calls. Continue Reading

Virtual tape libraries: A tutorial on managing VTL technology

In this tutorial on virtual tape library technology, learn about buying and managing a VTL, VTLs and data deduplication, and virtual tape library vendors and products. Continue Reading

Symantec Veritas NetBackup best practices: Using the maximum jobs per client setting

This is the second in a multi-part series discussing Symantec Corp. Veritas NetBackup best practices to help you make the right choices for your data backup system. Continue Reading

Backing up your virtual environment

Learn all about backing up your virtual environment, whether with traditional backup and backup scripts in this except of Eric Seibert's new book "VMware VI3 Implementation and Administration." Continue Reading

Symantec Backup Exec troubleshooting performance tips

If you're using Backup Exec and your performance isn't what it should be, some troubleshooting may be in order. Here's a list of potential things to look out for. Continue Reading

Understanding data deduplication ratios in backup systems

Data deduplication ratios can be very confusing. Learn about how to estimate a data deduplication ratio in your backup system and how to evaluate a dedupe product in this tip. Continue Reading

Data backup and recovery technology tutorials

Learn about the latest data backup and recovery technology trends in our technology tutorials. Continue Reading

The true role of a backup administrator

When asked what they do on a daily basis, some data backup administrators often opt for the short answer and reply, "I look after data backups." While this is not necessarily the wrong answer, it is not the full answer. Continue Reading

Four ways to streamline your data backup process

Are your data backup operations out of control? Here are four tips to help you streamline your data backup and recovery process. Continue Reading

The cost of tape vs. disk data backup

Here's how to determine the cost of disk vs. tape in your data backup environment. Continue Reading

Five tips for creating a backup service-level agreement

Learn how to write a backup service-level agreement that will keep the peace between IT and information users. Continue Reading

IBM Tivoli Storage Manager vs. traditional backup

Learn about the architectural concepts behind IBM's Tivoli Storage Manager backup software and the main differences with what are often referred to as "traditional" backup products. This piece is the first of a series of four on Tivoli Storage Manager. Continue Reading

All-in-One Guide: Backup

This All-In-One Guide covers a lot of ground from traditional tape to emerging technologies such as continuous data protection and content-addressed storage. Get started learning now. Continue Reading

Resource guide to disk-based backup

Our resource guide to disk-based backup is the place to start when looking for the most up-to-date content on what the experts have to say. Continue Reading

How to do hybrid backup

Traditionally, backups have been usually targeted to tape drives, but more and more disk storage is being incorporated into the backup process. One common approach with disk-based backups is using disk as a staging area before copying data to tape, which is known as a two-stage backup architecture. Continue Reading

Can disk speed up lethargic backups?

Backup to tape is fraught with problems, not the least of which is that it's time-consuming. Storage managers already use cheap ATA disk to store secondary copies of data because it's more reliable and easier to restore from than tape. Can disk also help you reduce the amount of time it takes for you to do your backup in the first place? Continue Reading