A new breed of hard disk arrays are
aimed at either complementing tape drives by improving
backup speed or replacing tape altogether.
Such systems come in two flavors. Disk to disk
backup subsystems cater to companies looking to
either back up data exclusively to disk, or back
up the data to disk as an interim step before sending
it to tape later. Disk to disk to tape subsystems
come integrated with a tape backup system or are
designed to be easily integrated with tape.
Disk based backup arrays are not displacing tape
for the most part, said Robert Abraham, president
of research firm Freeman Reports. "In some
cases, they do, but they really make tape backups
more user-friendly, and so they make it easier to
use tape," he said.
Actually, disk based backup arrays make users more
likely to back up to tape, Abraham said. Instead
of tape sales falling, the latest Freeman report
on compact tape drives, which include cartridge,
DAT, 8mm, SAIT, DLT, SDLT and LTO drives, said shipments
are expected to hit 2.2 million units this year,
up 5.2 percent over last year. By 2009, the market
is expected to hit 2.9 million drives.
Source: CRN |
OSI
DATATECH
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