Tape backup is an important function in the information technology or IT world.
It refers to the backup of data onto mechanical tape loaders so that if there is a computer crash or some other related problem, data is not lost.
The process of tape backup has been around for at least twenty years.
Yet backing up data onto mechanical tape loaders has a number of problems that is beginning to render the function of traditional data backup obsolete.
This is because there are a number of problems with traditional data backup.
First, the tapes are not very durable and they are prone to breakage.
Secondly, the process is slow and not very reliable.
Data can be lost up to 70 percent of the time when transferring onto tape.
Third, the tapes for mechanical tape loaders need to be discarded on a biannual or annual basis.
Today, there is a wiser choice for backing up data rather than relying on old methods.
Companies exist now with of goal of replacing traditional methods with state of the art technology.
As a result there is a movement toward disk-based backup.
Disk-based backup is catching on for many reasons in the IT world.
Firstly, the disks are more affordable now than ever before.
Second, the saving onto disks is more reliable than tape backup and the transferring of data can be done faster.
Data can be transferred two to four times faster on disk than on tape.
Companies today need to rely on reliable backup for their data.
With competition and other factors in play, they have less and less time for system downtime.