In the time when technological development is the gauge of advancement, the American government’s move to replace magnetic tape storages with digital storage has been highly debated. The move can be attributed to be liberal, but some critics argue that it could prove to be a folly with dire consequences. Magnetic tape, that technology usually in the domain of yesterday, has craftily turned into a business pillar of large institutions and corporations globally. Its affordability, durability, and security capabilities raise serious questions as to whether there could ever exist digital systems able to rival it in terms of protecting valuable information. Magnetic tape storage, far from being a dinosaur, is an engineering marvel.
IBM. It’s a tape technology behemoth that boasts of its unmatched efficiency: “In terms of costs, storing data on tape is pennies per gigabyte, and when not in use, tape requires no energy unlike hard disks and flash.” It is thus a desirable option for organizations managing massive amounts of data. Moreover, IBM’s collaboration with Fujifilm recently reached a milestone of mags with an areal density of 317 gigabits per square inch. The record employs a single tape cartridge containing 580 terabytes of data, a tremendous storage capacity larger than most digital counterparts (IBM and Fujifilm’s breakthrough). Reliability is also a bonus.
Securely stored magazine tapes will be capable of ensuring data integrity for more than 30 years, which is more than most computer storage technologies can manage. Computer systems, on the other hand, are exposed to the entire range of hazards from hardware crashes to hacker attacks. Physical “airgap” of magnetic tapes off-line data storage adds an extra layer of protection which is considerably hacker-proof. As cited in a Shredall report, the off-line character lowers risks such as data loss or theft, and thus tape storage is a reasonable solution to safeguard the sensitive information. But there are no strings of advantages for digital storage.
Cloud infrastructure offers unparalleled scalability and accessibility, by which data can be accessed and shared across the globe in seconds. But they do come at a price cost and operating. A detailed cost comparison by Archiware demonstrates the overall cost of cloud storage charges over a time frame. To own 200 terabytes per year in Amazon Glacier Deep Archive, for instance, is a much greater cost than an LTO tape library for ten years (Archiware’s cost analysis). Cloud storage also lacks the inherent “airgap” security of tape and is thus more susceptible to ransomware and other attacks. Its impermanence is also problematic. Preservationists are warning that permanent digital records is an oxymoron.
Digital records by their very nature are temporary, subject to obsolescence as the software and hardware change. The Digital Preservation Handbook attests this rationale that “storage media may become obsolete and unsupported by contemporary computers and the software that understands and provides access to them.” Electronic archives may perish unless it is carefully planned out and serviced with regularity a destiny which would eradicate historical documents as much as governmental responsibility. The critics of the government scheme refuse that becoming internet-enabled can indeed cost more and put risks. Computer networks promise to be cost-saving, but their dependency on energy-consuming data centers and constant replacement of hardware disaffirm the call for frugality. Magnetic tape presents a low-cost, low-energy solution easily supported by sustainability targets for comparison. It is a material of high shelf life at minimal cost of maintenance, and as such, an economical long-term solution to storing data. The case, then, is a case of innovation over reliability.
As data generation accelerates with the aid of IoT devices, AI, and high-definition video, demand grows daily for secure and elastic storage. Magnetic tape’s capability to evolve with technology, as brought to light with recent IBM innovation, renders it perhaps as necessary in the decades to come. Whether or not the government digital revolution will prove visionary or blinkered remains uncertain, but it is beyond argument that the stakes are high.
