PMD Data Storage Survey......the results

PMD Data Storage Survey......the results

The PMD Data Storage Survey concluded on 23rd April 2018, and provided a fascinating insight into the issues faced by the data storage market.  Below are some of the key findings or click here for the full results:-

Tape is best for long-term retention

2 out of 3 respondents agreed that LTO Ultrium tape media is the most cost-effective and reliable format for long-term storage of large data volumes.  Latest generation LTO-8 tape media enables 30TB capacity per tape, for storage of upwards of 30 years. 

Some respondents opted for optical disc storage, with some formats offering 100+ years’ storage.  However the capacity of optical disc is a fraction of the capacities provided by LTO Ultrium tape, so the overall cost of optical storage is high for larger data volumes.

LTO tape libraries offer excellent storage density

Combined with long-term archival reliability, latest generation LTO-8 tape libraries offer superb storage density.  2 out of 3 respondents agreed that a 32 slot LTO tape library – such as the HPE StoreEver MSL3040 – would provide up 960TB compressed capacity in just 3U of valuable rackspace.  This is far greater density than equivalent HDD, Flash or Optical storage arrays.

Infosight Predictive Analytics is featured on HPE Nimble Flash Arrays

4 out of 5 respondents knew that HPE Flash Arrays feature Infosight.  Infosight automatically predicts and resolves 86% of problems before you even know there is an issue, and provides 99.9999% measured availability.  Click here for our HPE Nimble Product Page.

Tape storage provides best Ransomware protection

4 out of 5 respondents agreed that tape was the most immune from Ransomware attacks.  Typically offline or stored offsite, tape-based storage systems should form an essential part of any data protection and disaster recovery plan for your most critical data.

GDPR and data challenges

More than half of the respondents agreed that to comply with forthcoming GDPR legislation, users will need a combination of disk, flash, tape and software solutions.  There is no single data storage technology which can meet all compliance requirements – a structured, hybrid storage model is needed.

Which RAID setting is ‘best’

This question provided the greatest spread of responses, with only 20% of respondents agreeing that RAID 1 is the ‘slowest but safest’ RAID setting.  Many respondents replied with RAID 6, as this is often seen as the best RAID setting to balance performance and reliability.  RAID 6 would also allow 2 disk failures in a single array.  Clearly the choice of RAID setting depends on the specific operational requirements of the user.

IBM manufacture LTO-8 tape drives

Only 1 in 5 respondents were aware that LTO-8 tape drives are now manufactured and assembled exclusively by IBM.  Previous LTO tape drives have been manufactured by several LTO Consortium members including IBM, HPE and others.  All LTO-8 systems will incorporate drives manufactured by IBM.

Fujifilm manufacture LTO Ultrium & Enterprise tapes

Only a handful of respondents were aware that of the companies listed, Fujifilm are the only manufacturer of both LTO Ultrium AND enterprise tape formats.  Fujifilm Barium Ferrite (BaFe) tape coating technology enables the very highest storage capacity and reliability of enterprise tape systems including IBM 3592 and Oracle StorageTek T10K.  Very few respondents use or are familiar with Enterprise tape systems – therefore this could have influenced responses.

To discuss your own data storage and management issues, email storage@pmdmagnetics.co.uk