Disk vs. tape, for low-cost storage
What are the advantages of using disk for low-cost storage, as opposed to tape?

    Requires Free Membership to View

    Login

    When you register for SearchStorage.com, you’ll also receive targeted emails from my team of award-winning editorial writers. Our goal is to keep you informed on the hottest topics, the latest news and the biggest challenges you face as a storage professional today.

    Rich Castagna, Editorial Director

    By submitting your registration information to SearchStorage.com you agree to receive email communications from TechTarget and TechTarget partners. We encourage you to read our Privacy Policy which contains important disclosures about how we collect and use your registration and other information. If you reside outside of the United States, by submitting this registration information you consent to having your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States. Your use of SearchStorage.com is governed by our Terms of Use. You may contact us at webmaster@TechTarget.com.

There are a number of advantages to using disk over tape. Performance comes to mind first, as some of the faster tape technology is sometimes still slower than low-cost disk. For example, LTO-2 tape drives at 35 MBps native versus approximately 75 MBps for ATA disk. Another advantage is based on the fact that disk is a random access device ability to provide multiple concurrent mount points. In contrast, tape drives are sequential access devices allowing only a single mount point unless some form of data interleaving is used (at a cost, performance-wise).

On the other hand, disk still presents some challenges when it comes to vaulting. While it is easy and relatively inexpensive to send tape off site, the same cannot be said about disk. The cost of a data replication to a remote location can quickly make a low-cost disk storage solution not so low-cost anymore.

This was first published in August 2004