On Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 12:53 PM, Joseph Heaton <[email protected]> wrote:
> How do you guys address issues of having to keep certain data for 10, 50 
> years, or more?

  You need to define the problem better.

  In the IT world, there's a *huge* difference between "10 years" and
"more than 50 years".  Most technologies from 2001 are still on the
market today.  In 1961, ASCII hadn't been invented yet, transistorized
computers were cutting-edge, and vacuum tubes common.  The challenge
-- and thus the cost -- varies proportionately with time.

  For example, I know IBM has mag tape systems they claim will store
for decades, but they're very expensive.  If you really only need ten
years, paying for that makes no sense.

  Questions include: How much data?  What type?  Is it easily
represented in a human-readable form?  How often are you going to need
to access this data (every day, once a year, stick it in a tape vault
and forget about it)?  Any particular threats (flood, human attack,
etc.)?

  Depending on the specifics, the best answer might be anything from
"print it out and store the paper in a cave in Arizona" to "keep it on
your production RAID array, carrying it forward as you upgrade".

-- Ben

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

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