Let’s say you want to restore a file from last week – what process do you go through?

1. locate the tape
2. Insert into the tape drive system
3. Retrieve file

In a little more detail……

Locating the tape

Assuming you rotate tapes through a 5 day cycle you may find you don’t have last weeks copy! Let’s assume you do for the purpose of this comparison.

If you store your tapes offsite a trip may be necessary. Even if you store the file at home an extra trip might be needed if you need the file urgently.

The cost of locating your tape could therefore vary depending on whether you store them off site, on site or at home – in which case the distance to your home comes into play.

Insert tape into tape drive system

I’ve listed this as a separate item because it may not be a trivial exercise.

Again it depends where your tape drive system is located. If in another office it could be another trip. Other issues could arise if the server is in use.

Retrieve file

This is perhaps the most painful part of the process for a tape drive system. You may have to restore the whole image just to retrieve 1 file if not using more modern and expensive tape drives. This could take the best part of a day and tie up the server! The real cost includes lost productivity.

With online data backup you simply enter the file you want to restore in the search box (wildcards accepted), select the file with the required backup date and click the “restore” button.

It’s so easy.

You can also go back 3 months with the same ease.

The cost of restoring files from a professional online data backup system is negligible.


Professional online data backup