7 Data storage solutions for businesses and individuals

The demand for data preservation and storage is increasing in parallel with the scale and importance of the data. Data storage solutions were born in turn to meet those needs.

The amount of data stored is increasing, the storage requirements are not only data storage but also security, management and quick access. However, not all datasets need as many criteria as above. Choosing a suitable and cost-effective storage solution is a difficult problem.

To store data, today there are a variety of methods such as saving on a hard drive, on a server or on a cloud system. To know which solution your data should be stored with, you need to know the advantages and disadvantages of each solution. This will be answered by Bach Khoa Data Recovery in the article below.
Data storage solutions for businesses
DAS – Traditional data storage solution
DAS or Direct attached storage – direct attached storage is the traditional data storage solution. When using the DAS mechanism, each server needs a separate storage system and storage management software.

DAS has the advantages of easy installation, low cost, stable performance. Besides, the disadvantage is limited scalability. Therefore, DAS is suitable for micro, small and some medium enterprises.

DAS is designed to be optimized for a single server. When the data increases, the number of servers is forced to increase, creating distributed data areas. Then it is necessary to manage and rearrange data on all servers, leading to an increase in overall costs and inconvenience when backing up, protecting and retrieving data.

NAS – Handy data storage solution
NAS or Network Attached Storage – storage on a LAN-connected device using special storage devices connected to the system via a general LAN. NAS devices are identified by a fixed IP address and are controlled by the server. It is sometimes possible to access the NAS without the permission server. In the case of multi-server, data manipulation is done centrally.

The advantage of NAS is the ability to easily expand with the addition of NAS storage devices. The NAS is also resistant to network failures, always ready for users to access data.

On the downside, using the same LAN makes the whole system’s performance suffer when the data storage scale increases and often. In addition, when considering the environment with database systems stored in the form of blocks, file storage NAS is not a suitable data storage solution.

SAN – Modern data storage solution
SAN or Storage Area Network – a data storage solution on an independent network that allows mutual data transmission between servers and storage devices. The SAN implements centralized management and the ability to share data and storage resources. SAN uses fiber optic technology to help users easily scale up while still providing high performance and availability.

The SAN has two levels, the physical level and the logical level:

Physical level: Create a uniform storage system by linking network elements for simultaneous use by multiple users and applications.
Logical level: Services, applications, and management tools are built on top of physical layer devices.
SAN is considered the most optimal data storage solution for businesses today. Due to the use of an independent network, the size and intensity of storage does not affect devices in the system and network traffic. Data in the SAN is always available for retrieval at any time. At the same time, the SAN can be rapidly expanded in terms of both storage capacity and number of devices.

SANs have a high level of data security thanks to centralized, unified data management and can self-recovery in the event of a failure. In addition, this system supports many different storage protocols and standards such as iSCSI, FCIP, DWDM, etc.

The only downside of a SAN is that the initial investment cost is much higher than that of DAS and NAS.

Cloud storage – Data storage solutions for the future
Cloud Storage – cloud storage has only appeared in recent years but has quickly become the leading effective data storage solution because of its superior features. Cloud Storage is essentially Data Centers that store data remotely over the internet, providing maximum data security. Cloud Storage is developed by leading technology companies and is completely independent of the devices at the enterprise. This solution is suitable for both small companies and large corporations.

Save on Cloud Storage

In addition to security, the advantage of Cloud Storage allows sharing of large-scale data with partners and customers without the need for intermediate steps. Users can access the system from any place or device.

However, due to geographical distance, users cannot access Cloud Storage if not connected to the network. This is also the biggest drawback of this solution. In addition, Cloud Storage requires a recurring fee, which is a bit inconvenient for businesses.

Methods of storing data for individuals
Enterprises have many systems of data storage solutions. So what is the optimal storage method for individual users?

Reference: Data backup strategy – Effective data protection

Store data on tape drives
The CD and DVD tape drive seems to be an outdated data storage solution in today’s context. But this method persists as the cheapest way of hosting ever known. In addition, the durability of the tapes is quite high (30 years), does not require too much maintenance compared to other methods and is absolutely safe from cyber threats.

DVD

Tape drives are more suitable for long-term data storage than as a temporary storage medium. The reason is because currently the solution to access data from the tape drive is quite high and rare, even though the price for a CD or DVD is very cheap. This will be the right data storage method for individuals who want to save memorable memories.

Store data on hard drive
HDD hard drives are extremely popular in the list of data storage devices. With a decent read and write speed, compatible with a variety of devices, low cost and a 3-5 year storage life, HDD is suitable for all individual users.

SSD

SSD hard drive possesses superior data read and write speed compared to HDD. SSDs do not use actuators, so they are more durable than HDDs. They are also very compact to fit into many of today’s electromagnetic devices. However, the downside of SSDs is the high cost.

Data storage on a combined flash device

A hybrid flash device is a data storage method that uses HDDs and SSDs to balance performance. This method combines the advantages of both hard drive options well above with low cost, large capacity and excellent read and write speed.

5D . data storage method
The 5D data storage method uses a fused quartz disk to encode data in three conventional (width, length, depth) and optical two dimensions. The quartz disks are very small in size but have an amazing storage capacity of up to 360TB. Especially the durability of quartz is eternal when it can exist at room temperature for billions of years.

With such superior advantages, the cost to store on 5D disk is extremely expensive and only suitable for a very small number of users, even a very small number of businesses and governments.

Cloud Storage
As mentioned above, Cloud Storage is the data storage solution of the future with convenient access and security. There are many free or very low cost cloud storage services such as OneDrive, Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox, Mega, etc., which are perfectly suitable for small users or households.