Archiving, backups and migration are the topics of the day. All of these describe data handling, each necessary in their own way. But what are they, how do they interact, and at the end of the day why should you care?
What is data archiving?
Sometimes referred to as Enterprise Information Archiving (EIA), data archiving refers to the process of moving data that is no longer actively in use to a separate storage system for long-term data retention.
How is an archive different from a backup?
Archives and backups are similar and related, but distinct, ways of handling data. The key differences are:
- Length of time: Backups are a short-term copy of your active data for safety. Archives are a long-term deposit of your no longer actively used data into a separate system.
- Accessibility: Archives can and often are designed to be easily parsed and provision is made for identifying and retrieving data from storage.
- Organization: A backup will generally make a snapshot of your system, with data located precisely where it is in the live system. Archives, by contrast, will store data that is critical but not actively needed in an indexed manner, making it easier to locate as needed.
- Purpose: Backups are a safety measure, providing a copy of your data in case the original is deleted or damaged. Archives are storage for future reference – be that legal use or internal company use.
Archiving, Backups and Migration – why migrate?
Besides continued improvements on storage efficiency and the exploration of productivity-boosting archive features, the main change over time in the archiving sphere continues to be government regulation and mandates. Legal hold requirements, eDiscovery, mandatory retention periods, the Right to be Forgotten and more intertwine to create a complex and constantly evolving legal landscape.
Archive systems now have to enable their users to quickly and efficiently ensure compliance with local or transnational legal regulations – whether this means automatic retention of documents, automatic deletion, GDPR-compliant data storage, or more.
In the case of backups, the evolution is less focused on regulation and more on the constantly shifting security space. New threats pop up regularly and backups have to harden against them. Currently, the gold standard is application of the 3-2-1 rule (three copies in two physical locations, one of which is offline) and Zero Trust principles to authentication.
Older archives and backups lack the features to enable easy compliance – in some cases, lacking the capacity to ensure compliance at all. In these cases, companies continuing to operate these systems find themselves at increased risk; even in the best cases, they’re placing an increased burden on their admin teams, increasing the costs and time required to maintain standards.
Migrate with contentGATE
As should be obvious, keeping your archives and backups up to date is critical. This, however, presents difficulty for companies that currently use an out of date or more limited archive. There is a degree of sunk-cost fallacy that tends to keep these older systems in place.
For organizations looking to make a change and ensure they have taken the best route possible, TECH-ARROW can offer our contentGATE migrator. With over twenty years of experience, over 700 enterprise clients and over a billion migrated files, we offer our expertise to ensure your migration comes off without a hitch. From the first proof of concept until the final verification, our team is with you every step of the way!
Your Data in Your hands – With TECH-ARROW
by Matúš Koronthály
Image generated by Canva
