As more companies move to disk-based storage systems due to their supposed advantages over tape storage, they may find that they are actually losing certain benefits that came included with their tapes.

As quoted from a business case in the Enterprise Tech Journal (June/July 2012 edition), “Tape library operations are clearly defined and media verification, validation, and migration can be automated to a large degree. Compare that to a disk repository, where “soft errors” occur at about 1,500 times the rate the disk array vendors say, causing undetected data corruption […] with a much higher frequency than most of us want to think about.”

The immediate effect can be a decrease in productivity, with long-term implications for the company’s expenses and data. As the company’s databases grow, the number of errors will increase as well, and they may not stay company secrets for long – “Plus, using tape instead of a de-duplicating disk repository keeps you out a potential lawsuit over the question of whether de-duplication materially alters data. SEC rules require that a full, unaltered copy of data be provided to the commission.”

GFS/TQS – Tape Quality System is a powerful solution for automating tape library procedures. It utilizes tapes to their fullest capacity, which creates instant resource savings. TQS provides solid stability and recoverability features, ensuring integrity and reliability for the long-term storage of data. Additionally, by promoting the complete use of existing resources, TQS provides immediate and long-term cost savings by reducing future infrastructure investments.

http://gfssoftware.com/gfs-tqs-tape-quality-system