The Benefits of Media Vaulting for Secure Data Management in Businesses (Free Downloadable Guide)

Secure data management has never been more critical to the protection of businesses. However, protecting data is complex, with various storage options on the market. Evaluating cloud storage, hard-drive storage, and media vaulting benefits can often leave businesses more confused than when they started.

Some data is more valuable than others, so media vaulting is critical to your security infrastructure. Falling victim to an attack and compromised data could threaten your business. According to Cybercrime Magazine, 60% of small companies close their doors within six months.

Figures like this illustrate the need for offsite tape vaulting services. In this guide, we discuss what media vault storage is and the benefits of investing in this secure data storage technique.

Why Businesses Should Consider Tape and Media Vaulting

Before getting into media vaulting benefits, what is media vaulting? Like a bank vault, these vaults store physical storage media, such as LTO-9 tapes, or removable storage, like RDX. You only need a vaulting provider and a means to deliver your physical storage devices there securely.

These climate-controlled vaults provide state-of-the-art physical security to prevent your data from being compromised. Since this storage solution is offline only, you don’t need to worry about the risk of cybercrime.

Businesses generated 328.77 million terabytes of data daily in 2023, providing a juicy target for cybercriminals, which is why this 1960s storage solution has made a comeback in recent years. For example, a single LTO-9 tape can hold 45 TB of uncompressed data. The cost of storing this much data could amount to a few hundred dollars per year after startup costs.

However, a cloud storage solution could amount to thousands of dollars per year. Although tape vaulting may not offer the same accessibility as data stored in the cloud, it’s far more secure and affordable, making it ideal for long-term data storage. In essence, the aspects that reduced tape’s popularity as a media storage solution have made it one of the most secure storage options for businesses in the 2020s.

5 Benefits of Media Vaulting

Is media vaulting a kill-all solution for data storage? No data storage solution is the best option for every use case in modern business. Instead, the best way for businesses to build the optimal storage architecture is a mixture of platforms to create multiple security and disaster resilience layers. Let’s examine why Spectrum found that 15% of all data is now stored on tape.

Enhanced Data Security

Cyberattacks are the primary concern among businesses. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, cyberattack rates have increased by 300%, and the trajectory shows no signs of changing.

Thankfully, media vaulting protects you against data breaches because your stored media is only accessible offline. Essentially, this eliminates the threat of cyberattacks. Plus, your tapes are also protected physically. Many tapes include various forms of encryption, such as read-only protocols. The LTO Ultrium tape even uses a symmetric encryption system, meaning a single secret encryption key is known only to you. In other words, your data remains protected even if your tapes fall into the wrong hands.

Finally, one of the best media vaulting benefits is that the facilities themselves are secured. This includes 24/7 manned security, biometrics, security cameras, and other measures.

Regulatory Compliance

Regulatory compliance is another issue companies must consider. Tape vaulting benefits don’t stop at security for your data. They also provide complete regulatory compliance with a range of general and industry-specific regulations, including:

• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
• Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

Excessive regulations have placed increasing demands on companies worldwide over the last decade. This is why media vaulting providers have built their facilities to give businesses the peace of mind that their data storage architecture fully complies with domestic and overseas regulations.

If you’re concerned about the costs of maintaining compliance, working with a reputable tape vaulting provider allows you to outsource the stress to them.

Cost-Effectiveness

It’s true that the initial startup costs of committing your data to tape and storing it offsite will cost more than using a basic cloud storage plan. However, this ignores the long-term cost savings offered by tape storage. Here’s a basic comparison of costs between offsite tape storage and other popular storage options:

Storage Solution	Cost per GB	Extra Costs	Accessibility	Reliability
Offsite Tape Storage	$0.005 – $0.02	Startup costs	Offline only	High
Cloud Storage	$0.02 – $0.03	Bandwidth charges	Online only	High
Hard Drive Storage	$0.03 – $0.08	Initial purchase costs	Local only	Moderate

It’s also worth mentioning that media vaulting reduces your dollar spend and carbon footprint. Businesses are more concerned than ever about taking a green initiative, meaning they’re increasingly taking action to be more environmentally friendly.

A Spectrum analysis found the cost of storing 100 petabytes of data for ten years would reduce e-waste by 51% just by moving 60% of this data onto tape instead of storing it on a hard drive. Relying on vaulting can dramatically reduce the energy consumption and e-waste your organization is responsible for.

Data Longevity and Durability

Tapes are highly durable as a form of storage media. Most manufacturers estimate that the average LTO tape will have at least 30 years of archival life. They can also support 20,000 write cycles per tape and over a million passes.

Contrast this to a basic hard drive that may only last for three to five years before a component fails. According to research, the average failure rate across 17,000 failed hard drives was just 30 months due to the extra moving parts.

It’s not uncommon for business owners to forget that many cheaper storage methods lack the longevity required for long-term data storage. This leaves them constantly purchasing new devices and taking the time to transfer data over, which is an extra time sink heaped upon the shoulders of your operations.

Disaster Recovery Support

Businesses can plan as much as they want, but there’s always a chance you will encounter some form of disaster, whether it’s a natural disaster or a cyber-related incident. A startling number of businesses remain unprepared for this scenario, with 46% of companies reporting not having a company-wide disaster management plan.

Media vaulting providers can form part of your disaster management plan, and not only because they house all of your archives and server backups. Most reputable providers have dedicated support to help clients get back online quickly should the worst happen.

• 24-hour tape transportation.
• Barcode tracking.
• Background checks for all staff.
• GPS-tracked vehicles.
• Detailed audit trails.

Media vaulting has changed over the years. No longer are they just a secure bank vault for you to house your digital assets. They’re partners in your disaster management plan, making them invaluable in protecting your organization’s future.

Store Data Offsite with Tape Vaulting

Storing your data offsite with media vaulting is the most effective way of protecting your most valuable data for decades. With complete compliance guaranteed and unbeatable security, no other storage solution can compare for long-term data protection.

At Corodata, we are specialists in helping businesses protect their data as part of an overarching disaster management plan. To learn more about how we support your data storage needs, contact Corodata today.