Your Tape Backup is a Business Risk

There was a time when tape backup was the cheapest and the standard data backup solution for businesses. Over the years, cloud services have become more affordable, and now cloud backup solutions like a BDR are cheaper and give businesses more security features. If you are still backing up with tape, then you may be losing money and even putting your business at risk!

The Risk of Human Error

Tape backup is not completely automated. At the end of the day, someone has to switch out the old tape for a new one. If this tape replacement procedure is not performed daily, then the backup will not run the next day. Murphy’s Law states: the day tape replacement duty is neglected will be the day when your network crashes. Someone also has to be responsible to store the tape in a file system that is designed for easy retrieval. The maintenance of any organizational system is prone to human error.

Risk of Degradation

Backup tapes come with a recommendation to replace them every 1-2 years. Tape degrades faster than other medias, especially compared to data stored on a hard drive. You can experience the degradation of tape firsthand by dusting off an old VHS tape and giving it a play. Those blurry lines and wavy-sounding audio tracks are from tape degradation. Your computer files are infinitely more important than your VHS copy of Titanic. Just like Jack slowly lost his life in the ice water at the end of Titanic, don’t let the life of your important backup data slowly slip away. I’ll never let go.

Risk of Losing the Day’s Work

Tape backup is not designed to backup your data while the network is in use. If you are attempting to use applications while they are being backed up with tape, then you will experience performance issues and network traffic may slow to a crawl. This means that you have to perform tape backup after hours. Worst case scenario, you experience a crash at the end of the work day and all of your files worked on during the day are gone forever.

SMART Services’s Backup and Disaster Recovery solution takes care of all of these risks and more. With BDR, the entire backup process is automated, which means that you are not required to do anything. Your data can also be to the cloud; this means that data degradation is not an issue and it will be stored offsite where it will be safe from a physical disaster striking your office. BDR also backs up regularly throughout the workday without any interruption to network performance. There are several more advantages to BDR over tape, including price! Call SMART Services at 586 258-0650 to learn more.