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Companies Are Once Again Storing Data On Tape, Just in Case (marketwatch.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: To stay up to date in the battle against hackers, some companies are turning to a 1950s technology. Storing data on tape seems impossibly inconvenient in an age of easy-access cloud computing. But that is the big security advantage of this vintage technology, since hackers have no way to get at the information. The federal government, financial-services firms, health insurers and other regulated industries still keep tape as a backup to digital records. Now a range of other companies are returning to tape as hackers get smarter about penetrating defenses -- and do much more damage when they do get in. Rob Pritchard, founder of the Cyber Security Expert consulting firm and associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, has noticed the steady resurgence of tape as part of best-practice backup strategies. "Companies of all sizes must be able to restore data quickly if needed," he says, "but also have a robust, slower-time, recovery mechanism should the worst happen." Mr. Pritchard, who works with a range of organizations to improve corporate cybersecurity practices, says: "A good backup strategy will have multiple layers. Cloud and online services have their place, but can be compromised."
I recently booted up my old Apple //e computer and was amazed to see that nearly ALL of my old floppies still worked. These are disks that were formatted in the mid 80's. The disks that failed were off-brand cheaper disks that were purchased more recently. I also remember buying 100 3.5" disks from Computer City in the late 90's. ALL of them failed within 5 years. Many were DOA right out of the box, and were unable to be formatted.
So the adage that magnetic media suffers from bit rot isn't quite as bad as you think... Cheap crappy disks and tapes will fail, but good quality ones last a good long time.