[NTLUG:Discuss] Data Storage recommendations wanted.

[ntlug at thorshammer.org]

> It would be cheaper to buy a hard drive load the data onto it, unplug
> the hard drive and put it in an antistatic bag and place the hard drive
> in storage.

	You should look into redundent disks for reliability (RAID, copy to two disks, etc). It sounds like the core of the service is the ability to produce a document after X amount of time with the ability to deliver 100% of all documents requested. So if the media the doc is stored on is lost, having a backup to pull it off of would seem good. Having redundant storage (either duplicate CD/DVDs or duplicate disks) will increase the odds against total failure. You can factor that into the cost of doing business, maybe even only duplicating 'important' docs (if there is such a classification).

	As an FYI, I think large institutions that need to keep records for a long time or 'forever' (banks, medical, etc) will put it to a tape and send it to a tape storage company (like Iron Mountain, Recall, etc). Those places have climate controlled facilites designed to hold media indefinitely. Since the tape is not reused, it won't have any problems with tape reuse like warping, jamming, breaking, etc.

Robert