Data Backup Digest

While migrating data from one server to another can be a painstaking and tedious process, it is an eventual reality for most companies who store and use digital data. With software and hardware becoming outdated, it’s important that companies stay up-to-date with the recent data storage trends. In order to do so, most companies will face a large-scale data migration at one point or another. As such, it’s important to face the challenge of data migration head-on and with the knowledge needed to tackle the job.

Deloitte, a professional IT and operations consultation firm, explained how data migration is becoming a necessity in the 21st century. A representative with Deloitte was quoted as saying: “The changes occurring in business today inevitably require some form of data migration - the process of moving data from an existing system to a new replacement system. Data migration is driven by business mergers and acquisitions, movement from legacy systems to packaged solutions, implementation of data warehouses and data marts, application system expansion, web access to legacy systems, movement to outsourced and ASP solutions, as well as many other system development projects.”

Backup Your Data

Just because you are moving your data from one server to another doesn’t eliminate the need for backing up your data beforehand. In fact, your data should always be backed up before committing to a system migration of any kind. Your data is subject to all kinds of hazards while it is being transferred from one system to another, and you’ll want to have a full backup of your crucial data just in case something does happen.

While it’s of the utmost importance to archive your data before initiating a server migration, it’s also important to archive your data once the system migration is complete. This allows you to store a “clean” version of your system configuration as well as any data that is crucial to your day-to-day operations.

It’s also important to keep in mind that there are different types of data backups that can be utilized. Full backups, incremental backups and even differential backups can all be used in various scopes and scenarios. Many IT officials use a combination of these three archival methods in order to ensure maximum efficiency and reliability.

Data Migration Hardware

Data Migration Servers, like the ones offered by Cirrus Data Solutions, exist to help ease the entire migration process. Such devices are typically compatible with various types of hardware, software and operating systems, thereby allowing you to transfer data between servers with little to no hassle on your end. Some data migration servers, including Cirrus Data Solutions’ Data Migration 3.0, are compatible with cloud architectures and datacenter environments, as well.

Data Migration Software

If you’d rather not make a large investment in bulky hardware, there are a plethora of software options available for managing a server migration, as well. Applications like Carbonite Server Backup are able to make a complete, customizable and “hot” backup, thereby safeguarding your data throughout the entire migration process.