Disk-based backups are more forgiving
				Increasingly, customers are turning to backup-to-disk (B2D) solutions to help address their backup challenges. Benefits include: Faster restore times due to the random access nature of disk Fewer backup failures due to tape drive, library and media failures More consistent backup throughput rates, as there's no backhitching effect found in tape drives when throughput drops below a given threshold Elimination of multiplexing, simplifying backup configuration In theory, tape can still meet or exceed the write performance of disk. However, users are finding that B2D solutions result in higher average write throughput, thus helping them shorten their backup windows. The higher throughput rates are attributable to the disk's random access, allowing users to optimize write I/O at any speed, thereby requiring significantly less tuning effort.

Getting backups to complete before the new business day starts is an ongoing challenge. The advantages of faster tape drives and increased network bandwidth are often offset by the ever-increasing amount of storage to be backed up each night.

When backups are allowed to run indefinitely until they are complete, the following bad things happen:

• Degraded performance of backup clients during business hours
• Inability to start the next night's backup because the previous night's backups are still running
• Maintenance windows for the backup server and tape libraries may be lost
• Increased likelihood of encountering open files, which are frequently skipped by backup applications