[NTLUG:Discuss] Data Storage recommendations wanted.

[Kipton Moravec]

It is a garage setup to begin with.  He is just starting out on his own
after doing it for a lawyer in the evenings. Currently he is scanning
and putting the data on CD. Each of the lawyers clients is on a CD, so a
lot of space is wasted on many CDs. And they are filed in large CD
holders in alphabetical order. The current lawyer has about 500 to 700
CDs so far.

I was under the impression tapes were very unreliable for long term
storage. The tape material becomes brittle over time and it needs to be
exercised (wound and rewound) every 6 months. This info may be dated,
but that is the way it used to be. (I am an old guy.)

I am guessing the start will be on the order of 1 TB on line. And as the
business grows the storage will need to grow in increments. I don't see
a problem with a 10TB storage limit. If he needs more than 10TB get
another server. 
 

Kip

On Wed, 2006-11-15 at 15:48 -0600, ntlug at thorshammer.org wrote:
> 	Define "business" :) Is it a garage type setup where you need the absolute cheapest solution held together with duct tape or is this something where you are just trying to keep a tight budget but you are expected to deliver to a customer?
> 
> 	Backups to CD/DVD is the cheapest solution but the least reliable for a business. Backup to tape is more reliable way but is more expensive.
> 
> 	As far as storage, you need an estimate of how much you need. Gigs, terabytes, 10s-100s of terabytes? You also need to think about RAID and the storage associated with that. SAN is the first thing that comes to mind but it's costly. There are also NAS and storage servers if you need smaller amounts of storage (less than 10T).
> 
> 	Basically there are pleaty of options for what you need but it's all based on budget.
> 
> Robert Thompson
> 
> 
> On Wed, Nov 15, 2006 at 02:59:40PM -0600, Kipton Moravec wrote:
> > A friend of mine is starting a document scanning and storage business,
> > and asked me the best way to store the documents. The documents will be
> > scanned and stored on some type of non-volatile media, and will be
> > stored for so many days (30, 60 or 90) online.
> > 
> > Right now he is backing up to CD.  I am recommending to upgrade to DVD.
> > Is that what you folks recommend?
> > 
> > For the online data he does not need speed, he just needs tons of cheap
> > space. What is the cheapest way to store data on line? Just get a bunch
> > of SATA or IDE hard drives on multiple cheap servers?
> > 
> > Kip
> > -- 
> > Kipton Moravec <kip at kdream.com>
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > http://www.ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> > 
> 
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> 
-- 
Kipton Moravec <kip at kdream.com>