D2d

[Abhilash]

What is D2D?

D2D, acronym for Disk-To-Disk, is considered as one of the most efficient and superior backup strategy. Instead of using normal tape media systems, D2D uses hard drives as a medium to store backup data. As the prices of hard drives are dropping year after year, and the functioning speed and the storage capacity tends to rise, several businesses as well as individuals are turning to additional hard drives for D2D backups.

D2D backup strategies became more popular with the advent of Random Array of Independent Disks (RAID). Latest motherboards which support the most modern varieties of RAID use multiple disks in a wide variety of methods so as to increase functioning speed, provide idleness, and offer error correction.

Types of D2D

True D2D and VTL D2D (Virtual Tape Library D2D) are the two main types of D2D backup strategy. Virtual Tape Library D2D, as the name states, is not accurate D2D as it keeps a tape-like index of files. Even though this type of D2D is considerably faster than tape backups, VTL D2D still incorporates several limitations of tape backups.

Advantages of D2D Backups

D2D backups have various advantages over tape storage or optical storage in both RAID and non-RAID environments. Though tape storage serves an important function, these storage medium has several shortcomings and inconveniences. For instance, if a user needs to restore a backup file, the first thing he/she need is to locate the exact archived tape drive. After finding the exact tape, from the many archived drives, the tape need to be read by the tape unit, this is another process which takes several minutes. After locating the file, it could be transferred, but still this process in most cases is quite slow. Often there are some other possible problems which could happen during the entire process, such as tape malfunctioning, and tape wear and tear, which can result in the tape drive not functioning properly. After all, the slow functioning of tape drives for backing up and restoring data has become much insufficient in today’s faster life style.

This is the exact reason why most people nowadays choose high capacity hard drives such as D2D as an ideal solution for creating data backups. D2D, when compared with other backup mediums, is an excellent backup option whether you are using an additional hard drive as a shadow disk or a RAID array for a large corporate network.

D2D also allow users to take immediate backups and restore facilities as the system can easily recognizes the backup data as original files. Furthermore, by using D2D, the users need not have to worry about tape malfunctioning, and/or tape wear and tear. The backup files are also handy and can be restored within minutes. For those who are using D2D as a backup medium need not have to create any external archives or additional archives, like those creating in the case of tape cartridges.

Another most noted advantage of D2D is that when internal preventive monitoring routines advise that a disk is ‘going bad’, D2D backups used with Serial ATA (SATA) RAID allows for hot-swapping. D2D backups also feature full scalability. To sum it up, there are numerous advantages in using D2D backups and there is no noted weakness to point out.

There are several software programs which help users to automate D2D backup. Most of the software programs are available on a free-to-try basis. One can download these free trial programs from the internet. Before you purchase any such software programs it is advisable to compare various programs and then use their trail offer to know the functionalities of the program.