Published:
Fragmentation Affects Backup Systems
With the continued expansion of business
storage allocation requirements, the time required for file-based data
backup also continues to increase yet the time allotted for this data
backup remains constant, exposing a critical issue. Though backup software
vendors continue making advancements in technology to speed up the process,
disk fragmentation will continue to remain an unresolved issue that must be
addressed on the file system level. The question is... how do you solve
this bottleneck? The answer is simple: Defrag it.
In business environments, backing up local and network data is commonly
done with both tape devices and disk devices. As data backup involves file
access, fragmentation of data files can have a profound impact on the
length of time a backup procedure may take. To understand this, we must
first understand what file fragmentation is. File fragmentation is defined
as pieces of files on hard drives that are not continuous but instead are
scattered around the drive. This can cause all sorts of problems as the
fragmentation increases. For example, an employee trying to access a
Microsoft® Word document that had been broken into several fragments,
would have to wait until the operating system went around "virtually
collecting" these fragments before being able to open the file.
Of course, the same holds true regarding backup systems. When a backup job
runs, it also must perform a similar file "scavenger hunt." Imagine a
business trying to backup a 1GB database containing several thousand
fragments. This adds up to a dramatic increase in the actual I/O usage
needed to complete the backup.
Defrag software decreases the time required to back up data from a typical
hard drive volume to a backup system while increasing the backup data
transfer rate if the volume is defragmented prior to running the backup
job. Furthermore, directory consolidation (defragmenting and consolidating
directory files) has a direct additional benefit in both of these areas.
Improvements in backup times can be seen up to 69% (decrease in total back
up time).
Having a stable and high performance backup system in place is critical for
any serious business. However, fragmented files result in a fragmented
backup, increasing loss of time and money. Leave it to defrag software to
help you recover.
Copyright © 2009, MarketWire
Copyright © 2009, NewsBlaze,
Daily NewsTags: ,Computers and Software:Hardware, ComputersandSoftware:Networking, ComputersandSoftware:Software, Telecom:Networking, ,CA,SAN FRANCISCO, CA
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