The Times They Are A-Changin’

Bob Dylan recorded the song (and the album) in 1963.  It was written two years before he went electric.  If I could speak to him today, I would like to know his take on how different things are today.  I am sure he could draw several political and cultural similarities between the present and 1963.  But the differences are quite vast.  Technology has become the driving force of everything around us.

Consider, if you will, the large number of changes that the music industry has been through because of technology.  Think back as far as you can and think about every piece of equipment you have owned in your lifetime that simply allows you to listen to music.  Personally, I can remember owning a record player, a walkman or three, many tape decks, four or five CD players, three iPods, and an Android.  It is amazing how much media I have owned and do own.  (Believe me, I just moved…there’s too much).  The best part about the improvement of entertainment media is the decrease in size and weight.  I really want to get rid of all of the plastic junk I need to lug around just to enjoy a song.  I pity the people who had to dedicate entire living rooms to their record collections.

We don’t need to do this anymore though, do we? Our various portable music players have allowed us to store everything on hard drives for easy access and transport.  We can now carry entire catalogs of music in our pockets.  What am I getting at, you ask? Well, I spend much of my day thinking about backups.  This is what IT professionals think about, seriously.   Backups.  As we all know, backups require media just as music does.  What media do you automatically think of when the word backup comes up?  (Hint: it is tape).

Did you know tape as a media has been used in computing since 1951? 12 years before Bob Dylan recorded his third studio album with the title track “The Times They are a-Changin’”.  I’m not kidding.  Now sure, tape as a technology has progressed since the 7, 8, and 9-track days.  You can store a lot more on a tape now than ever.  Yet there is no denying this is an antiquated technology.  Not to mention unreliable, expensive, bulky, and the fact that it degrades over time until it is unusable…even if you don’t use it.

The cost of disk-based storage has fallen so fast in the last decade alone, that it is absolutely the most interesting technology for backups and data archiving around.  The only problem is that after you purchase a bunch of disks, they are most likely still at your business site and just as physically vulnerable as the rest of your assets.  Obviously, we want duplicate data stored far away in case of a disaster on-site.

Couple the evolution of disk-based storage with the amazing data transfer speeds that our fiber-backed telecommunications systems provide these days, and you have an easy way to transfer data offsite for storage.  (Yes, this is where I mention The Cloud ).  You can now have onsite backups for extremely fast recovery, and know that your data is still safely stored offsite should you ever need it.

While online vaulting isn’t incredibly new – it is a technology that has been around for over 10 years- it is now more affordable, reliable, and secure.  It is almost the complete antithesis of tape.  For anyone that spends time worrying about data storage and disaster recovery, it is really a great technology to ease your mind.  At Thrive Networks, we have online storage options to fit many needs.  We have some of the latest and best technologies available. So ditch that old record collection and contact us today to discuss how we can help protect your data.

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