Storage readers are warming up to bare-metal restores (BMRs)--rebuilding a server from scratch after a catastrophic failure--compared to 18 months ago. Today, 56% of respondents make bare-metal images of some or all of their servers, up 10 percentage points from January 2006. The increase may be due in part to deeper integration of BMR and data protection; fewer respondents are using standalone BMR or tools included with virtual server management software, while more are using the BMR features that come with their backup and/or replication software. Still, of the 44% who aren't doing BMRs, 62% aren't considering it for the future. And the reasons for their reluctance are compelling. Primarily, respondents find that the difficulties of BMR on Windows systems persist and that the overall process is still too time-consuming. Other reasons cited by respondents include cost and difficulties in getting management approval.

--Trina MacDonald