Alternatives to tape backup

Often, people think of tape as a dinosaur when compared to the new range of fast, direct-access storage media. Yet tape is ideal for backup. Businesses use tape because they find it to be a cost-effective backup solution, and tape backup will continue to be used for some time to come. Nonetheless, you'll probably be interested to know that there are several alternatives to tape, some of which may be more suitable for your business.

Backup to NAS devices

NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices are attached directly to your network and can act as a backup store. Obviously, it's very convenient to backup to NAS and retrieve files; there's no disks or tapes or insert and remove, and NAS devices can be treated as just another server. There are many NAS devices specially designed for small businesses. Excellent for network backup.

Backup to REV drive

In April 2004, Iomega released the REV drive - a new storage device that has greater capacity than tape and is 5 to 8 times faster. Key features are:

backup to REV drive is much faster than tape backup and have higher capacity
REV drive units are more durable than tape
While tape requires regular cleaning, no cleaning is required for REV drive units

Backup to REV drive may in fact prove more cost-effective for your business than tape, depending on your backup scheme and other factors. Otherwise, backup to REV is very similar to tape backup in principle.

Final notes

As always, invest in a quality backup program. Many backup program will support a number of backup devices, so there's no need to buy specialist REV backup software or NAS backup software.

> This article was brought to you by BackupAssist - data backup software

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<!-- // Start of Article Code // -->		
<h1>Alternatives to tape backup</h1>

<p>Often, people think of tape as a dinosaur when compared to the new range of fast, direct-access storage media. Yet tape is ideal for backup. Businesses use tape because they find it to be a cost-effective backup solution, and tape backup will continue to be used for some time to come. Nonetheless, you'll probably be interested to  know that there are several alternatives to tape, some of which may be more suitable for your business.</p> 

<h2>Backup to NAS devices</h2>

<p>NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices are attached directly to your network and can act as a backup store.  Obviously, it's very convenient to <a href="../news/backup-to-nas.html">backup to NAS</a> and retrieve files; there's no disks or tapes or insert and remove, and NAS devices can be treated as just  another server. There are many NAS devices specially designed for small businesses. Excellent for  <a href="http://www.backupassist.com/news/network-backup.html">network backup</a>.</p>

<h2>Backup to REV drive</h2>
<p>In April 2004, Iomega released the REV drive - a new storage device that has greater capacity than tape and is 5 to 8 times faster. Key features are:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.backupassist.com/news/server-backup-to-rev-drive.html">backup to REV 
drive</a> is much faster than tape backup and have higher capacity</li>
<li>REV drive units are more durable than tape</li> 
<li>While tape requires regular cleaning, no cleaning is required for REV drive units</li>
</ul>


<p>Backup to REV drive may in fact prove more cost-effective for your business than tape, depending on your backup scheme and other factors. Otherwise, <a href="http://www.backupassist.com/news/backup-to-rev.html">backup to REV</a> is very similar to tape backup in principle.</p>


<h2>Final notes</h2>

<p>As always, invest in a quality backup program. Many backup program will support a number of backup devices, so there's no need to buy specialist <a href="http://www.backupassist.com/news/rev-backup-software.html">REV backup software</a> or <a href="../news/backup-to-nas.html">NAS backup</a> software.</p>

<p>> This article was brought to you by <a href="http://www.backupassist.com">BackupAssist - data backup software</a></p>
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