Best data backup technology tips of 2010

In survey after survey throughout 2010, storage managers listed data backup and recovery as their top priority. According to enterprise data storage managers responding to SearchStorage.com's Storage Priorities for 2010 survey, data backup (48%) was their No. 1 spending priority, followed by adding storage capacity (37%) and disaster recovery (36%).

The most popular data backup technology that caught storage and backup managers' eyes this year was data deduplication (with 61% either deploying or evaluating it on top of the 23% current dedupe users). The survey also indicated that after dedupe, four other technologies -- continuous data protection (CDP), data archiving, backup for virtual servers and remote replication -- were also important data backup technologies. Among already in-use data protection technologies, replication was the highest (36%), with backup software for virtual servers close behind (32%).

To help you start the new year off on the right foot, and make sense of the latest backup technologies, we've gathered our top 10 data backup technology tips. Learn about the biggest backup trends of the year: data dedupe, cloud backup, virtual server backup, and more in this collection of tips.

TIP #1-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Data deduplication technology tutorial
As indicated by the Storage Priorities survey, interest in data deduplication isn't showing any signs of slowing down. But there's a lot that goes into choosing the best dedupe product for your company. In this data backup tutorial, learn about global data deduplication, what to look for in a data deduplication product, inline vs. post-processing deduplication, and more. You will also learn what kind of data deduplication ratio you can expect and the pros and cons of popular data deduplication approaches. Click here to read the tutorial on data deduplication technology.

TIP #2-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cloud backup best practices: Evaluating cloud backup services
One of the biggest data backup technology topics of 2010 was cloud backup. But is cloud backup viable for businesses, or is it all hype? In this tutorial by backup guru W. Curtis Preston on cloud backup best practices, learn what you should look for in potential cloud data backup services, questions to ask potential vendors, management and security concerns, and cloud backup services that are popular with larger enterprises. Click here to read the tutorial on cloud backup services.

TIP #3-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quest vRanger Pro 4.5 backup and recovery tutorial
This year, Quest Software Inc. released version 4.5 of its virtualization backup product, vRanger Pro. Features in the new version include better integration with VMware's vStorage APIs, Changed Block Tracking (CBT), a new technology called Active Block Mapping, as well as object-level recovery for Microsoft Exchange servers. This backup and recovery tutorial will review the new version and provide some tips and other helpful information for using Quest vRanger Pro 4.5. Click here to read the tutorial on Quest vRanger Pro backup.

TIP #4-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LTO tape technology continues to evolve with LTO-5
Data backup experts have been predicting tape's demise for several years. But the release of LTO-5 tape may have breathed new life into the technology. Listen to W. Curtis Preston's insights on the future of LTO tape in this podcast. If you're using a older generation of tape, you may be wondering whether or not you should upgrade to the latest version, what this version offers, and whether or not LTO-5 is compatible with other versions of tape. Click here to get the answers to these questions and listen to the podcast on LTO tape technology and LTO-5 tape.

TIP #5-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Archiving storage vs. data backup storage
Data backups and data archives are frequently confused with each other. Many people don't know the difference between the two enterprise data storage technologies, and often assume that if necessary, they can use their data backup storage as data archive storage, which often is not a good idea. In this podcast, learn about the differences between data backup and data archiving products, and the dos and don'ts associated with each technology in this Q&A. Click here to listen to the podcast on archiving storage.

TIP #6-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Virtual server backup best practices guide
Server virtualization technology has had an enormous impact in data centers by advancing server consolidation at a pace never seen before. Organizations of all sizes have slashed the number of physical servers they need, allowing them to trim costs, cut complexity, and reduce power and space requirements. But while they make a lot of IT chores easier, virtual servers make one key task a lot harder: data backup and recovery. In this free guide, learn how to manage your virtual server backup process, what tools are available to help you, and the pros and cons of each. Click here to download the free guide on Virtual server backup.

TIP #7-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VMware vSphere backup and recovery
When VMware Inc. released vSphere, the successor to VI3, many new enhancements to existing features were included that are very beneficial to the backup and recovery of virtual machines. In this tip, learn about what's new and what's changed, and how those features make for better backup and recovery of virtual machines in vSphere. Click here to download the free guide on VMware vSphere backup.

TIP #8-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Network-attached storage (NAS) backup strategies
Whether justified or simply because the technology was misunderstood, backing up network-attached storage devices were once considered a challenge for backup and storage administrators. This tip reviews some of the most popular NAS backup strategies. Learn about traditional NAS backup, NDMP backup, online data backup and more in this tip. Click here to read about the best strategies for NAS backup.

TIP #9-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Data backup types explained: Full, incremental, differential and incremental-forever backup
For quite some time, there have been three basic types of backups: full, incremental and differential. More recently though, data backup software vendors have introduced some newer types of backups that you might not be familiar with. Learn about synthetic full, incremental-forever backup and other data backup types in this tip.

TIP #10------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fixing common problems with data deduplication systems
While data deduplication systems have helped make data backup and recovery much easier, they also come with a number of challenges. The savvy storage or backup administrator will familiarize themselves with these challenges and do whatever they can to work around them. Learn about deduplication and encryption, the dedupe tax and other problems with deduplication systems in this tip.