Did You Know That Most Cloud Providers Backup on Tape?
Perhaps nothing underscores the importance of Backup Tapes in the world of data storage other than the fact that cloud providers themselves back up data on Backup Tapes. Officially, cloud storage is basically a cloud computing model that stores data on the Internet. Since this data is stored on the Internet and not physically you cannot use a disk or a Backup Tape to access this data. In other words if you subscribe to a cloud storage provider the provider will store your data on the Internet which can be accessed basically anytime from anywhere in the world.
There is no doubt that having data stored on the Internet rather than on a disk offers, perhaps, unparalleled convenience. But at the same time data stored on the Internet faces risks not faced by data stored on disks or Backup Tapes. Data which is stored via Cloud is susceptible to hacking or ever growing cyber threats. Skilled hackers can access such data from far flung corners of the world and tamper with it. This is something that is impossible to do with Backup Tapes because they are literally physical tapes.
For reasons like this many Cloud providers themselves will back up your data on Backup Tapes. So in a way the Cloud providers themselves are bearing testimony to the supremacy of the Backup Tapes. When backing up data on Backup Tapes, cloud providers can ensure they have secondary copies of your data in a safe location where it is not susceptible to hacking or any sort of cybercrimes. Therefore, as many have claimed, Backup Tapes are not dead, but have entered a new era, where they have reinvented their relevance.
