Online Backup vs. Tape Backup
With the increased reliance on computers and digital storage, companies across the board find themselves paying a great deal of attention on ensuring that mission critical data is protected to maintain business continuity. Traditionally, tapes were used to backup critical data. However, online backup solutions are widespread these days and offer several advantages over tape backups.
1. There is no hardware or software to buy in most online backup solutions. There is nothing to maintain. Tape backup systems, however, require the purchase of hardware, tape backup software in some cases, and the actual tapes.
2. Online data backup implies that the data is stored safely offsite, typically at a providers data center. With tape backups, the tapes will have to be transported offsite incurring additional costs.
3. Online backup is reliable whereas tape backup is not. There is no guarantee that the data on a tape can be restored when it is needed the most, during disaster recovery. In addition, the time taken to restore data from a tape is far greater than the time taken to restore from an online repository.
4. Tape drives become obsolete in less than a couple of years. Tapes need to be replaced due to wear and tear. With online backup, there is nothing to replace and one does not need to keep up with the changes in technology since the entire process of backing up is handling seamlessly by the service provider.
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