data storage – Page 3

Data Archiving Architecture: Finding a Perfect Balance of Storage Mediums.

Data archiving has always been a challenge both for the enterprises and manufacturers of data storage solutions. The basic laws of thermodynamics tend to have the effect of deteriorating data storage capacity in the long run, so it is important to understand the needs of each individual data archiving project to be able to choose the right storage system based on the appropriate technology under the proper environmental conditions. That should be also combined with relevant migration and replication practices to improve the safety and accessibility for the extended periods of time.

The most common means of data archiving today are flash memory, hard disk drives, magnetic tape and optical discs. Data storage architects usually use one of these technologies, or their combinations, when designing their systems.

Let’s try and take a closer look at these technologies.

Flash memory got really popular in last 10 years.

First consider flash memory in archiving. At the 2013 Flash Memory Summit Jason Taylor from Facebook, in a keynote speech, presented the idea of using really low endurance flash memory for a cold storage archive. According to Marty Czekalski of Seagate at the MSST conference, flash writing is best done at elevated temperatures while data retention and data disturb favor storage at lower temperatures. The JEDEC JESD218A endurance specification states that if flash power-off temperature is at 25 degrees C then retention is 101 weeks—that isn’t quite 2 years. So it appears conventional flash memory may not have good media archive life and should only be used for storing transitory data.

HDD-based storage systems are good for so-called "hot" archives, where data needs to be easily accessible. — HDD-based storage systems are good for so-called “hot” archives, where data needs to be easily accessible.

Hard disk drives are often used in active archives because the various hard disk drive arrays can be continually connected to the storage network, allowing relatively rapid access to content. Hard disk drive active archives can also be combined with flash memory to provide better overall system performance. However hard disk drives do not last forever – they can wear out with continued use and even if the power is turned off the data in the hard disk drive will eventually decay due to thermal erasure (again we run into the enemy of data retention, thermodynamics).

In practice, hard disk drive arrays have built in redundancy and data scrubbing to help retain data for a long period. It is probably good advice to assume that HDDs in an active archive will last only 3-5 years and will need to be replaced over time.

Less active archives where data is stored for longer periods of time will be interested in storage media that can retain the information stored on them for an extended period of time. There are two common digital storage media that are used for long term cold storage applications – magnetic tape and optical discs.

Let’s look at these two storage technologies and compare them for long term cold storage applications.

Magnetic tape cartridge developed by IBM

Magnetic tapes used for archiving come in half-inch tape cartridges. The popular formats used to day are the LTO format supported by the Ultrium LTO Program, the T10000 series tapes from Oracle/ StorageTek and the TS series enterprise tapes from IBM. Modern magnetic tapes have a storage life under low temperature/humidity storage conditions and low usage of several decades and currently native storage capacities per cartridges as high as 8.5 TB.

When not actively being written or read, magnetic tape cartridges can sit in a library system consuming no power. Digital magnetic tape is thus a good candidate for long-term data retention and has a long history of use in many industries for this application.

Gold layer on Archival CDs/DVDs allows to store media for centuries

Optical storage has also been used for long-term data retention and environmental stress tests indicate that the latest generation of optical media should have an expected life-time of at least several decades. FalconMedia Century Archival discs are actually able to store data for hundreds of years, thanks to special gold and platinum reflective layers, that are used in their construction. At the Open Compute Project Summit in January 2014 Facebook, presented a 1 PB optical disc storage system prototype with 10,000 discs. When Facebook started the actual exploitation of the system it actually reduced company’s storage costs by 50% and the energy consumption by 80% compared to their previous HDD-based cold storage system.

Ken Wood from Hitachi Data Systems at the MSST Conference presented research results that proved hypothesis that the migration/remastering costs for 5 PB of content over 75 years is much less for an optical system with the media replaced every 50 years rather than more frequent tape and HDD replacement.

A lot of digital data has persistent value and so long term retention of that data is very important. In an Oracle talk at MSST they estimated that storage for archiving and retention is currently a $3B market, growing to over $7B by 2017. Several storage technologies can play a role in an archive system depending upon the level of activity expected in the archive. Flash memory can provide caching of frequently used or anticipated content to speed retrieval times while HDDs are often used for data that is relatively frequently accessed.

Magnetic tape and optical disks provide low cost, long-term inactive storage with additional latency for data access vs. HDDs due to the time to mount the media in a drive. Thus depending upon the access requirements for an archive it may be most effective to combine two or even three technologies to get the right balance of performance and storage costs. As the total content that we keep increases, these considerations will become more important to drive new generations of storage technologies geared toward protecting valuable content and bringing it to the future.

Recovering Old Files: Challenge or Lesson to Study?

Informational technology is developing so fast that data we stored only a few years ago is often stuck on old disks with very few drives that are able to read them. Computer forensics experts can uncover old files, sometimes solving crimes along the way.

Computer forensics specialist is investigating an old laptop

When new files relating to the South Yorkshire Police’s handling of the Hillsborough disaster emerged, plenty took the form of dog-eared notebooks and water-damaged folders. But in amongst the evidence handed over to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, there were also 167 floppy disks – containing hundreds of documents that were potentially critical to the investigation.

Paper is a reasonably useful medium; if it gets a bit damp or dirty you can still read the marks that have been made on it. But the same can’t be said for magnetic storage. The exhibits manager for the inquiry, David Wolstencroft, and his team had to purchase an ageing computer in order to read the 5.25-inch floppies – disks much bigger than the 3.5-inch ones most of us remember using on our PCs before they died out, and a medium already well on the way to obsolescence at the time of the 1989 disaster. “We got them all read,” he told the BBC when the analysis was just getting under way in 2013, “and they’ve come back on two small disks [DVDs] that aren’t even full. It’s unbelievable the way technology has changed.”

Old floppy discs may still be a source of important evidences of the old cases

The process of transferring data from old media such as floppy disks to more modern, readable formats might sound relatively easy, but the transient nature of modern technology can make it hugely problematic. Tracking down and purchasing a computer from the era of shoulder pads and Crocodile Dundee would seem like a promising initial step, but the subsequent journey is uncertain.

“If you boot up an old machine,” says Tony Dearsley, Principal Consultant at digital forensics firm Kroll Ontrack, “you have no idea what’s going to happen. It will have been sitting in a cupboard for 15 or 20 years. You’re going to have component failure, capacitors are going to die. Ideally you’d try to avoid doing that altogether.”

Attempting to boot up and old PC very often end up at this point

Our increasing reliance on technology and the related increase in the digital information we all generate has fuelled a massive rise in the number of firms offering digital forensics services. But when old cases are reopened and dusty technology resurfaces, experts face multiple challenges.

Floppy disks, from the 8-inch to the 5.25-inch to the 3.5-inch, become less willing to yield up their contents with every passing day. Even hard disks, which theoretically have some measure of protection from the atmosphere, still experience decay.

Data storage mediums have changed so many times during the last 50 years, that it seems like we are still looking for a perfect way to store the huge volumes of information we generate on a daily basis. And as years go by, the compatibility of data carriers and readers becomes a bigger and bigger problem. If only data archiving would be somehow standardized, then we would we most likely not face such challenges anymore?

Many kinds of sensitive data have to be stored and preserved in a way that can be easily accessed after years, decades or even centuries. As has been touched upon already, paper is a good medium of storage, but it has a number of disadvantages: beginning from large physical volume per unit of information and ending with poor level of environmental influence resistance.

Century Archival DVDs are able to secure data for hundreds of years

Data storage experts agree that as of today, there is no better alternative for optical media in data archiving. Professional archival grade DVDs and CDs with gold and platinum layers are able to secure data for centuries, fact proven by a number of professional tests under severe environmental conditions.

Falcon Technologies International has a specially designed product line called Century Archival, that is a perfect solution for a long term data storage. It is not only a cost-efficient solution, but also a guarantee of secure and lasting data storage.

5D Glass Disc – Future of Optical Media?

As we move forward and the evolution of Informational Technology goes on, the challenge of constantly increasing data arrays storage becomes more obvious. Flash-memory, HDDs and SSDs have their limits: both in volume and reliability. The natural question “What’s next?” – sounds relevant in this context. The University of Southampton believes that the answer is Five-Dimensional (5D) Glass Discs.

5D quartz disc - future of optical media storage — 5D quartz disc – future of optical media storage

As it was mentioned previously on our blog, traditional flash wears out, HDDs occasionally fail, physical photographs fade and paper books rot. Optical media meets archival purposes best, and this is why the industry re-shaped driven by the market conditions partially in this segment. It sets certain important tasks in front of Optical Media: preservation and security of humanity’s collective culture heritage for generations to come. Currently this critical data is transferred from one slowly failing storage medium to other one, but what if we had means to store it once and forget about it?

The possible next-generation optical media – 5D Glass Disc is something that may serve as “everlasting” data storage solution. The technology uses data encoding within sub-microscopic nanostructures in glass. Existing optical media, such as CDs and DVDs use two dimensions to store data, while the new technology adds three more dimensions to it: nanograting orientation, refraction ‘strength’ and location within x, y and z axis. Researchers say that three additional dimensions increase the storage capacity up to 360 Terabytes per disc.

Speed aging tests of the glass disc showed fantastic results: the data stored on such kind of media may outlive the planet itself: at 190 °C operational lifetime is calculated to be a ‘mere’ 13.8 billion years!

It all sounds like a technology from Star Wars Universe or any other fantastic saga’s, but in fact it is an actual technology, that may re-define the entire optical media industry in future (at least the data archiving segment of it). It would be fair to note here, that in the very beginning of CD-era in the mid-80s nobody would ever think that optical media would later become so cost-effective for personal and corporate use.

See the video displaying data-writing on 5D glass disc.

Alternative Data Storage Solutions: are HDDs and Cloud-based Backups the Only Ones Out There?

Data storage and backups are becoming a more important, even essential, part of operations for virtually all businesses. Third-party, cloud-based storage solutions have become very popular in recent years with many industries that operate with large volumes of data, such as sound, video and graphics. But are these solutions so secure and trusted as they are marketed to be?

Cloud storage solutions such as Dropbox became very popular during last 7-8 years

Thomas Coughlin, a data storage consultant, says that two of the biggest issues for most media and entertainment companies with third-party archiving is cost and trust. When it comes to a handling of archives above a certain size, it becomes more cost-efficient to have supporting proprietary storage infrastructure in-house, rather than continue leasing it from a third party.

The issue of trust in relating to data archiving is being solved using various encryption methods, but according to Coughlin there are still many unanswered questions on long-term data security.

The other significant factor that influences companies towards proprietary data storage solutions is cost: according to the latest case study on Facebook, having data stored on optical media or magnetic tape is up to 80% cheaper than having it stored on HDD or SSD-based storages.

Freeze-Ray storage system helped Facebook to cut almost 80% of its data storage costs.

For enterprises that need to store large amounts of data that is rarely accessed, it is more important to effectively manage costs rather than getting faster performance of the storage solutions (e.g. banks, insurance companies, healthcare organisations, Governmental agencies, etc.). This is the main reason why more secure storage technologies based on optical media or magnetic tapes are more likely to be used by certain industries, Coughlin says.

Lower costs become a meaningful factor due to the difference in technology behind various types of storage systems. Optical discs and magnetic tapes do not require any electrical power when data is not accessed.

Falcon Technologies International LLC (FTI) has invested a significant portion of its resources into archival solutions development. Over a decade of continuous Research and Development, FTI achieved excellent expertise in the optical media production industry and proved its operational excellence through a number of quality certificates, such as ISO:9001 and CE.

The company firmly believes that Optical Media will re-define long-term data storage and archiving through the provision of reliable and high-quality tools, such as FTI’s latest optical disc product line Century Archival.

FTI's Century Archival - reliable solution for long term data storage. — FTI’s Century Archival – reliable solution for long term data storage.

Century Archival discs were specially designed for long-term data storage and exceeded experts’ expectations in a number of accelerated aging tests, showing a minimum lifespan of 300 years when subject to extreme environmental conditions. Gold and Platinum layers of Century Archival ensure that all the stored data will be secured against any external environmental threats (fact proved with series of ISO/OEM Archival Tests).

Dr. Sean Farnan, Head of FTI’s Research and Development Department said: “With the exponential growth of digital data, how we handle data is becoming increasingly important. From the instant gratification to placing a picture onto an online service such as Facebook, memories from a family wedding, business accounts, medical details through to the digital reproduction of ancient manuscripts the list is long and varied. As this journey into the digital landscape continues, the importance of storing digital data over a long period of time is now a real concern. It is also an opportunity for Optical Media to deliver a long lasting, cost effective archival solution.

By using the purest materials and employing rigorous quality control during the manufacturing process, it is possible to produce high capacity optical disks that will last over 100 years and beyond. The data storage works across all formats and is easily scalable depending on the end users’ application.

From learned institutions preserving human history, to online entertainment, healthcare and the business sector, the need for permanent data storage will be met by optical media. It will also allow you to share memories such as your wedding day with your grand children. Memories are always better when shared.”

Healthcare Information Technology Market is Expected to Grow

A recent industry report’s findings confirmed the projected growth of the global Radiology Information System (RIS) market and estimated it to reach a value of $980.2 million by 2024. A large segment of major scientific findings and technological advancements go hand-in-hand with the continuously growing demand for Healthcare InformationTechnology (HIT), which makes it one of the key driving forces of the market growth.

IT became an essential part of modern day healthcare industry.

The in-depth research report on Global RIS (Radiology Information System) Market with detailed charts and figures is available HERE.

Healthcare Information Technology is based on several major pillars, one of them being Electronic Medical Records (EMR). It is considered to be one of the most important HIT’s subsystems, that stores, processes and analyses medical data of patients. With the emergence of Radiology Information System (RIS) and Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) the entire Healthcare industry has been taken to the next level. Text-based patient records are now backed up by radiology images, that may be stored safely for decades without any risk of being damaged or lost.

Modern technologies take healthcare to the next level

Next generation Healthcare Informational Systems that are being implemented globally to ensure higher business security and patient confidentiality. RIS and PACS are recognised as most efficient systems of electronic imaging management and are gaining popularity in developing economies such as China and India, where the populations are so big that healthcare sector has no other choice but to implement them.

Falcon Technologies International LLC focuses its Research and Development efforts on niche segments of optical media such as HIT and has developed a special product line that meets the sector’s requirements.

FalconMEDIA MEDILINE - specially designed to meet the HIT needs. — FalconMEDIA MEDILINE – specially designed to meet the HIT needs.

FalconMEDIA MEDILINE is an ideal solution for providing the patients with imaging reports, radiology and treatment history. With its use, distribution of medical reports to the patients becomes more cost-efficient and easy task.

All FalconMEDIA MEDILINE products are fully compatible with Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) and Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standards.

What makes Optical Media better in Data Archiving?

Paper hard copies and handwritten memorandums are gradually being replaced by digital file storage solutions used by corporations to archive all important information. Data storage and regular back up became a significant task for all sorts of private and public business enterprises, many of whom would simply store the data on internal back up servers with redundant array of independent disks (RAID) or on Cloud-based solutions, however these kind of “hot” backup solutions are not suitable for long-term data storage.

"Hot" backup data storage is usually made on HDDs — “Hot” backup data storage is usually made on HDDs

“Hot” backup is a data copy that is accessed relatively often, usually stored on hard drives and flash-memory devices. These data storage devices contain many electronic components, and therefore have a very limited lifespan. Another point to consider is that data on these devices may be easily modified, which makes them not ideal solutions from a security point of view. Long term data archiving requires both security and durability criteria to be met.

“Cold” backup methods, such as optical media and cassette tapes, allow storage of big data volumes for a long periods of time. It is called “cold” because the data that is stored with this method is usually not accessed very often and it cannot be modified. Once a file is recorded on a Read Only disc it remains unchanged, which is perfect for historical data archiving.

Lifespan comparison of different backup storage media

In 2005 Japanese Government approved Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS Z 6017), that require corporations to preserve digital data for a minimum of 10 years. The regulations included official recommendations to use optical media as a main choice of storage solution. With the release of a new format optical disc, storage capacity of one unit grew up to 100GB, which is another driving force behind this media becoming a reliable and low-cost backup solution.

screen-shot-2016-11-21-at-11-09-45-am

Optical disc and drive technology has developed quickly in lifespan and storage capacity dimensions over the last decade. Pioneer introduced a brand new disc drive (BDR-PR1M series) that supports large capacity disc writing and additional error correction layers to minimize writing errors and improve disc quality. A wide range of industry players have already presented 50 /100GB storage capacity discs to the market some of which may last for up to 1000 years!