From tape to Tusky: simplifying disaster recovery

Introduction: magnetic tape and its role in archiving

Introduced in the 1950s by IBM, magnetic tape storage has been a cornerstone in data management since the 1950s. Originally, it was used for large-scale data processing in mainframe computers. Magnetic tape storage operates by saving data onto a thin strip of plastic film embedded with magnetic materials.

People have been declaring that tape is dead for the past 2 decades. But the reality is that tape has seen a surge in recent years. In 2021, shipments for tape-based storage media increased by 40%, totaling 148 Exabytes (155 million TB). This was in large part due to the COVID 19 pandemic, where an increase in remote work coupled with an acceleration in ransomware and other cyber threats presented tape as a solid option for enterprise archive and disaster recovery strategies.

Considering that at least 60% of all data can be classified as archival (expected to exceed 80% by 2025), and that many cloud storage providers are actually offering tape storage for their archival tiers, tape is very much at the center of the debate when it comes to long-term archiving of data.

The benefits of tape

Tape storage is still being used due to its offline nature – this protects data against ever increasing cyber threats like ransomware.

Tape also has high capacity (LTO 9 offers 45 TB of compressed storage) and reliability, making it attractive as part of a diversified data backup strategy to safeguard against data loss and security breaches.

However, it’s not always the best idea to step back in time to solve today’s challenges when it comes to technology.

The risks and worries of tape

First off, you need to setup a physical facility to store your tape. That facility needs to be optimally regulated as tape is extremely sensitive to environmental conditions. Exposure to high temperatures, humidity, dust, or magnetic fields can degrade the quality of the magnetic tape and make the data unreadable over time. Physical handling is a concern, especially during situations like lockdowns when remote management is necessary.

Next you’ll need to maintain the technology to read your data. Tape drivers typically need to be replaced every 4-5 years on average. Although tape can in theory last 30 years (if stored at 70 degrees Fahrenheit and 40% relative humidity), the real threat is if data on tapes can’t be read by the latest tape drives. It’s why tape is often replaced even when it still has decades of theoretical use left.

Inevitable data migrations to deal with the limitations of the media will be time consuming and costly. Other costs that may not be seen upfront, are slow access times for retrieving data – GDPR right-to-know requests for a large company could be a constant drain on resources as IT teams struggle to locate data.

Most risky of all, tape storage creates a single point of failure.

If only one copy of data is stored on tape, and that tape becomes damaged or degraded, the data may be lost. Multiple copies of critical data must be maintained, compounding costs. Still, tapes are physically vulnerable to natural disasters like floods and fires. Since they are often stored in single locations, these events can result in the loss of all data.

From on-prem to onchain

Tusky's vaults can sidestep the issues of tape and deliver the fundamental benefits organizations are looking for: ransomware protection, durability and cost effectiveness.

Own the keys, decentralize the data

Recent studies have shown that storing data in the centralized cloud is a massive ransomware risk. As Shai Morag, CEO of Ermetic comments:

Because users of Tusky own the keys that encrypt their data locally, once safely stored on Walrus the data cannot be decrypted and tampered with. It will be encoded in slivers and stored across hundreds of nodes in a global network. 

If Tusky is used to archive data then any attacks on internal systems will not be catastrophic but contained.

Decentralized storage – resilient and robust

Storing data with Tusky is about as durable as it gets. Tusky leverages decentralized storage on the Walrus network, which itself is coordinated by the Sui blockchain.

Walrus is redefining onchain storage. Previously blockchains have been limited in storing data as all nodes in a blockchain require a full replication of the data set for computing the state of the blockchain. If you want to store large binary objects (blobs) – images, videos, audio, etc – then storing it directly onchain would create massive upfront costs associated with excessive storage overheads. By leveraging Sui blockchain to coordinate payments, management of nodes, and proving data availability, Walrus can keep blobs offchain while still gaining all the core benefits of an onchain storage solution. 

Walrus is incredibly resilient, being Byzantine fault tolerant it can withstand one third of its nodes failing or acting maliciously and still retrieve your data intact. It also bakes in a cost-efficient level of data replication, 4-5x, which gives it higher levels of redundancy than AWS for the same price. 

Owning your data, true disaster recovery

When you use cloud storage you are the renter and the storage provider is your data landlord. If you stop paying your rent, then you can’t access your data.

With Walrus you can pre-pay storage for up to 2 years. Further, you are in control of your data and with Tusky you can end-to-end encrypt it and control the keys to that encryption. This, in combination with decentralized storage, gives you real data ownership and a out-the-box disaster recovery backup solution.

Conclusion

Unlike tape storage with its physical complexities and vulnerabilities, or centralized cloud services with their labyrinthine pricing tiers and contracts, Tusky and Walrus introduce simplicity into the data storage equation. This simplicity delivers perpetual peace of mind: data remains secure, accessible and immune to the increasing threats of ransomware.

The cloud presented IT teams with a means to move up the value stack and focus their energies on solving business problems instead of maintaining complex on-premise storage systems. If organizations go back to tape, then they're undermining the potential of IT teams to drive transformative change within their organizations.

Owning your data off-premise is now a possible strategic position for enterprise and large organizations. One that can tackle cyber threats and offer effective disaster recovery, while still delivering all the core efficiencies of the cloud. 

If you want to learn more about how Tusky can be part of your organization's archiving and disaster recovery strategy, reach out to us.