15% of UK Organizations Still Using Combination of Disk and Tape Backups

Research by Databarracks, Ltd revealed that 15% of UK organizations are still using a combination of disk and tape backups, with 51% now using online or cloud backups.

The findings are from Databarracks’ 2021 Data Health Check.

Other related figures from the report include:
• Cloud and online backups have continued to increase in popularity, climbing from 23% in 2008 to 51% in 2021
• 4% still use tape as their only backup medium, unchanged since 2012
• Combined disk and tape use has declined from a peak of 29% in 2012, to 15%.

Peter Groucutt, MD, said: “When we first started the Data Health Check in 2008, almost a fifth of organizations were still using tape as their only backup medium. By 2012, companies were moving to a combination of disk and tape or switching to online or cloud backup. Reports of tape’s death seem to have been greatly exaggerated. It still remains relatively popular. There are several reasons for this.

“Storage prices have reduced to make cloud backup viable for the majority of the market, but the lowest-cost method of storage is still tape. For organizations with vast data volumes – in industries such as life sciences or broadcast media – it meets that need.

“Tape is also difficult and slow to eliminate completely due to the years of historic backups you need to keep. Smaller businesses often make a clean break and switch to a new method however, larger firms and those with compliance requirements need to keep tape drives and tapes for several years. This puts some companies off moving due to the cost and manpower required to manage 2 backup methods while older retentions expire.”

Complete report