opinions on file storage policy and NAS units

[franklin1232]

I would like to know what everyone thinks about archiving and storing data. I am of the thought that storage is cheap. I can pick up a NAS unit for a couple thousand dollars and more than double the storage capacity of our network.

My boss is of the opinion that we should archive files that haven't been accessed in the last year.

I think he is asking for trouble. It will take 5 times as long to retrieve archived data and people will start to store information on local drives so that they will always have access. The real problem is organization not the amount of data stored. (My boss is always loosing his files) Any thoughts, suggestions or recomendations on a good NAS(100GB) unit or Archiving methods would be appreciated.

 

[butchrecon]

I dont have a thought on a good NAS unit. There are only a handfull of NAS makers that I know of. But as for your staorage problem, I suggest getting an NAS unit for the storage. Archiving is a good tacktic if your backing up to TAPE and taking that backup off site for safe keeping. But if the data is on any system Archiving will just slow you down and as you know will cause user to store locally. You should do both really. Backup to tape for backup purposes, BUT leave a copy of the data on the system, no matter how old for fats access. If you can afford the capacity then get it. James Collins
Systems Support Engineer
A+, MCP

email: butchrecon@skyenet.net

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[Cuznmark]

Well we got the Dell Powervault 735n.. pretty dang good. I think you can get the unit with 100 gig.. we got the 500 gig package.. with 100 gig on server.. and another 500 gig of external HD space. It also has a feature for taking snapshots of the server. we have ours doing it ever two hours. now if someone deletes a file i can copy it like it is on another drive. pretty dang cool.. now talking about archiving. What backup software do you use.. I think some have a archiving agent. veritas does..

Mark
Cuz'n Mark

Just learning..

 

[MasterRacker]

1. I would definitely recommend keeping info more than a year. For most types of data, you want to go back at least 2 years.

2. A good archiving policy has to take into account not only the age of the data but the kind of data it is. At archiving time, data needs to be separated for storage into different types of archives. Certain data related to HR ot taxes legally needs to be available from archive for 5-7 years. Some info needs to be available from archive "forever". Some data needs to be destroyed (this means even the archive media) {i]beyond any possiblility of recovery[/i]. This is to protect your company from certain liabilities and can also help prevent law enforcement officials from shutting you down during an investigation, since you can prove the data is not in your archiving system. You need to talk with your lawyers and insurance co. about this area.
Jeff

I haven't lost my mind - I know it's backed up on tape somewhere ....