Offsite Data Protection

Most organizations keep many months worth of backup data on site to in order to respond to requests to restore files from users and to recover from storage and system failures. Months to years of backup data is also retained on tens to hundreds of tapes at an offsite environmentally controlled, secure, protected, tape storage facility. These can be recalled when onsite tapes are lost or found to be unreadable. One or more tapes may also have to be recalled in response to requests for archived project data, financial or legal data, or to recover data to new systems in the event of a system or site disaster.

It is not uncommon to see organizations keep a year’s worth of weekly backups, many years worth of monthly backups, and up to seven years of yearly backup tapes stored offsite.