Hi Roslyn,
I probably wasn't clear.... I didn't mean to say don't use cloud storage
if you think it is a good solution, in many cases it could be. I meant
that if you really want to preserve your data you need to do more than
put it in the cloud (or for that matter on a local storage device). It
is not a panacea. Just like if you were housing it locally you need to
make sure you have redundant copies.
Edward
Rosalyn Metz wrote:
I have to agree with Ed. You should have a good policy in place for backing
up your data. Just throwing it on a server isn't a policy.
At the same time I would have to disagree with Ed. You should look at S3 as
if it was your own server. What is the guarantee that you supply to your
users with your own server. The snap server we use here (instead of S3) is
the back up to a back up system already in place.
On Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 9:52 AM, Edward M. Corrado <ecorr...@ecorrado.us>wrote:
Rosalyn's post made me think of one more thing.... if you are looking into
outside entities (such as we are), what are the terms of service and what
guarantee do they offer they won't lose your data? I believe that A3 does
not offer any guarantee, so if you go with them, you probably want to have
some other form of storage as well. Even if they offered a guarantee, what
good is it once they loose your documents you were trying to preserve?
Edward Corrado
Rosalyn Metz wrote:
Hi Edward,
Might I suggest you look into cloud computing services if you're looking
at
different options. (I know you're all shocked I suggested it). If our
budget weren't so abysmal (and going to get worse) we would be using it
right now rather than the snap server we purchased with leftover funds.
The
benefits of using the cloud is of course the elasticity it offers you.
The
negative is that you have to pay to put your files into the cloud and then
pay again to take them out (and since we've already been slashed 30% and
are
guaranteed another slash...that idea was shot down).
Of course the major player out there is Amazon S3. The problem is that
you
can't use S3 via Amazon's Web Management Console. But there is a company
called RightScale (http://www.rightscale.com/index.php) which has a web
management console that allows you to upload files quickly and easily
without having to write scripts and what not.
Anyway, just my two cents.
Rosalyn
On Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 8:10 AM, Edward Iglesias
<edwardigles...@gmail.com>wrote:
As I was trying to figure out what to do with half a terabyte of
archival TIFFS it occurred to me that perhaps someone else had this
problem. We are starting to produce massive amounts of digital
objects (videos, archival TIFFS, audio interviews). Up until now we
have been dealing with ways to display them to the public. Now we are
starting to look at "dark archives" like OCLC's digital archive
product. I would welcome any suggestions from those of you who have
dealt with this on an archival level. It's one thing to stick the
stuff up on a server, but then what? Our CIO suggested storage
appliances like this one
http://www.drobo.com/products/index.php
but I am wary of the proprietary RAID system.
Thanks in advance,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edward Iglesias
Systems Librarian
Central Connecticut State University
