If you back up your data to tape, do you also
verify the data on the tape after the backup?

According to Kroll Ontrack, an international leader in data recovery,
60% of all tape backups are defective.

Of all of the media that is used for data backups, tape is the poorest and least reliable because:

Tape stretches over time, distorting the tape and making it difficult to impossible to read.
Tape is subject to changes in temperature and humidity, again, distorting the tape.
The read/write head and rollers make physical contact with the tape. Over time, the magnetic media on the tape can be worn away.
The exposed tape on a tape cartridge can collect dust. Dust particles then can get in between the read/write head and the tape, causing a read/write error to occur
Tapes are not stored properly between uses.
Tapes are used over and over and over and…until they are no longer viable. But, because they’re not checked, no one knows this.

So, the only way to know if your tape backup is any good is to verify the files on it – every single time you do a tape backup. Just because the last backup was OK doesn’t mean that the next one will be.

What should you do?

You should still continue to do to backups in whatever format and on whatever media you are currently using. But, then, augment those backups with

and back up your data over the internet to our remote server. It’s

Automatic – Secure – Affordable

We care about your data as much as you do