Create a data archiving process for your growing data sets

With exponentially increasing data volumes and retention requirements, it's not feasible for a company to keep all its data on primary storage. What your organization needs is a data archiving process.

IDC has projected that by 2025 there could be as much as 175 zettabytes in the global datasphere. That's 175 billion terabytes. Organizations should therefore have a comprehensive data archiving process in place that outlines what data will be stored, how it will be handled and how much everything will cost.

And we're not talking about backup here. While backup and archiving are often grouped together, they are different processes. Organizations should perform backups for potential restores of important data and also archive for long-term retention of infrequently used data. According to the "Active Archive and the State of the Industry 2020" report by the Active Archive Alliance, 66% of respondents still use backup systems to store archive data.

"When IT uses backup copies as archives, and repeatedly backs up unchanging archive data, they lengthen the backup window and waste time and money on storage resources," according to the report.

Just like people who have a hard time getting rid of physical items, organizations often have trouble purging data or moving it to an appropriate tier of storage. And that's where this handbook can help. There are many options for your data archiving process, from large vendors that offer archive services to smaller archival specialists. This handbook provides product examples, pricing information, important tips on creating a data archive policy and guidelines as to how long you should retain certain kinds of data.

By

• Paul Crocetti, Senior Site Editor