Patrick Dowling Backup Quotations

Seventy-eight percent of administrators say they archive data. But 29 percent say they archive manually and that tells us there's no automated, reliable and documented process. Another 35 percent said they archive but they use their backup software. That's a major tell-tale sign that the market has to do some education. People don't understand the issue.

The prevalence of disaster recovery and business continuity as a driver suggests that users are more aware that disasters can happen anywhere, at any time. On the other hand, there is a sense that the complementary roles of archiving and backup often are not clearly understood.

The figures regarding the lost three-month-old file may seem extraordinary, but they exemplify how traditional file journaling during backup is not up to the complex task of managing offline files for long periods of time, which archiving and media management technology address.