For long-term video archiving, tape is still king
Dec 14, 2009 10:51 AM, By Michael Grotticelli
With Xendata software, the archive appears as a standard file system; it is just like a server on the network with a high-capacity RAID.
As for system cost, Storey said a complete digital file archive server could be installed with Xendata file management software, standard IT hardware for about $25,000-$30,000, which offers a nearline storage capacity of 20TB and unlimited capacity from managed tapes that are held “on the shelf.”
With Xendata software, the archive appears as a standard file system; it is just like a server on the network with a high-capacity RAID. A file is first saved to disk storage on the archive and then saved off to LTO tape within a robotic tape library. Depending upon when that file will be used again, it might be automatically removed from the disk, but will still be available for restore from LTO. File permissions are maintained, which means each file can be electronically marked to limit access to authorized personnel.
Some broadcasters set policies on the archive to write to duplicate LTO cartridges for redundancy and data protection. As the tapes become full, they will export one of the duplicates from the tape library and store it in a safe location for disaster recovery. Also, if the need to access some video files becomes infrequent, both of the duplicates can be exported taking the file contents offline. If there is an attempt to access an offline file, the XenData software provides an on-screen message and will send an e-mail to the librarian identifying which tape bar code should be selected and put back into the tape library.
Stations such as KATV-DT, the ABC affiliate in Little Rock, AR, and KVIE, a PBS station in Sacramento, CA, use the system. KVIE installed a XenData LTO archive system about three years ago, in tandem with a Rorke Data 264 slot robotic tape library. This was initially used to archive video files from an NVerzion automation system. The KVIE archive is now also used with Apple Final Cut Server, which provides media asset management. The Web site TMZ.com also uses Xendata for archiving its thousands of digital files, in tandem with a Dalet news editing platform.
In terms of long-term archives, it’s important that data is stored in such a way that it can be read for many years to come. To ensure access to the material, companies like Xendata record data on the tape in the POSIX “tape archive” (tar) format, which has become an industry standard (although not every archive vendor does this, instead using proprietary schemes). The tar format was first introduced by AT&T in 1979 and is still supported today.
“Today you can take a Xendata tape that was written in the past and use a current LTO tape drive to read it,” Storey said. “When you store data on other media or on data tape without using tar, that may not be the case. And what good is material stored on a media of you can’t access it. You don't want to be locked into a proprietary format, ever.”
For all types of archiving, affordability is the key. Early next year (see them at NAB in April), Xendata will release a new single-drive LTO tape archiving system for smaller stations and post-production facilities.
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