5 Tips for Green Data Storage

Everyone wants to be green these days, and so does your data. Apparently, though, tape-based backup just doesn't cut it, environmentally speaking.According to hosted storage vendor Amerivault, tape backup presents a Sasquatch-sized carbon footprint from "manufacturing, packaging, power consumption and waste issues" involved in making, replacing and disposing of tapes. Not to mention the impack ot trucking the tapes off to secure sites.

So the company has come up with 5 best practices for painting your data storage green, which incidentally seem to favor the kind of services Amerivault provides. Still, Green Is Good, so small and midsize companies may want to check out these five ideas -- adapted right from the Amerivault press release:

1. Online data backup  By using disk-based online backup, small and midsize companies can eliminate emissions resulting from moving tapes to offsite locations and stop tossing used tapes into landfills.

2. Tiered storage  Place older, less-needed data into cheaper archival disks to extend the life of existing production storage -- postponing the need to add hardware and consume the extra energy required to power and cool it.

3. Virtualization  Virtualized servers make more efficient use of available system resources. [Check out bMighty.com's 5 Simple Rules For Going Virtual.]

4. De-duplication  Files transferred via internal email may end up being stored dozens of times. The latest storage technologies can de-dupe files on primary storage and on backup.

5. Data compression  Block-level change technology and compression algorithms decrease the amount of backup storage capacity your company needs -- minimizing the associated power and cooling requirements.