Refer to msg from Hugh Smith, 11/09/06.
Hugh,
Thanks for these excellent points. I guess it's going to be harder to do a
climate controlled cabinet than I thought. A couple of people have
mentioned the fireproofing aspect. That does make the problem much harder
to solve. Based on what I've read, here's what I'm thinking about backup
strategy for small business. It seems that long term data archives have
very different needs from backups. I want to address that later. The
following are in order of least desirable to most desirable. What do you
think about this sequence? The message I seem to be hearing is that, if
you had to choose, fire protection would be more important than climate
control.
.5 - No backups are a bad idea.
1 - On site backups with NO fire protection and NO climate control are
better than nothing.
2 - On site backups WITH fire protection and NO climate control are better.
3 - On site backups WITH fire protection and WITH climate control are
better, but hard to do.
4 - On site and off site backups with NO fire protection and NO climate
control are better.
5 - On site and off site backups WITH fire protection (at least off site)
and NO climate control are better.
6 - On site and off site backups WITH fire protection and WITH climate
control (at least off site) are better.
So, if I had a client with one facility, I would probably recommend setting
up backup technology and a strategy with a fireproof media safe in the
office and an external fireproof climate controlled facility.
But, what if they don't want to pay the money, which is likely for many
small businesses. A storage cabinet and a safe deposit box may be the next
best option.
So, if they're using a non fireproof storage cabinet on site, and if you
could add climate control to it for, say, 20% - 50% of the cost of the
cabinet, would that be worth it. I'm guessing that a fireproof media safe
would cost 3 or more times what a standard cabinet would. Also, here in
Georgia, the humidity is terrible. It's routinely above 90% in the
summer. In a small building or home office, it may periodically be above
60% - 70% and sometimes it may go below 30%. I think an on site non
fireproof climate controlled cabinet and an off site fireproof climate
controlled facility would be a good combination. Many of the small
businesses I'm familiar with are at stage .5 above. Anything would be an
improvement.
If the client has two facilities or more, there are some interesting
possibilities of each site being the off site storage for the other.
Other comments in with snips from Hugh's message below.
>exist as the IT whiz wouldn't use them. Tapes should be stored at 68º F.
>As for humidity 30% is optimal. Below this you get static discharges that
>occur when handling the tapes.
>Plus how are you going to achieve 25%? You would need a Munters
>Cargocaire or similar dessicant
>The problem with safes is that to air condition them the door must be left
>open. This then requires a door closer
>Magnetically shielded and with racks so the media is vertical at all times
>so it does not unravel.
This is all great info to know. In terms of humidity, I used this website
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/html/dewrh.shtml to do a calculation on
humidity and dew point. If you put in 68 degrees for air temperature and
35 degrees for dew point, the relative humidity is 29.52%. So, if I cool
humid air down to 35 degrees and let the moisture condense out, then warm
it back up to 68 degrees, the humidity should be about right. I guess
going lower will freeze the dehumidifier.
Sincerely,
Ron
------------------------------
Ron Frazier - owner of: http://c3energy.com/ ---
http://c3energy.com/alt_energy/
http://c3energy.com/computersecurity/ --- http://c3energy.com/health/
I am an independent researcher / consultant specializing in Alternative
Energy and Data Security.
I am particularly interested in exploring ways to archive data over long
periods of time.
Ron Frazier -- 4050 Dorothy Dr. -- Cumming, GA 30041 -- 770-205-9422
(O) -- 404-431-5472 (C)
Email: rwfrazier AT c3energy DOT com (replace the AT and DOT by hand)
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