Data backup and security is a crucial concern for many organizations globally. Most businesses are dealing with huge amounts of unstructured content from the growing tech innovations such as AI, social media, search engines and more. The increase in tech advancement comes with numerous threats vectors which should be addressed to avoid data loss. Although, there are multiple data security gadgets and regulation policies. Organizations need to implement guaranteed systems that can help guard against physical and logical damages.

About Object Storage

Object Storage is the digital solution for many data storage menace. Companies are shifting from traditional storage systems to Object Storage to resolve multiple issues. The system is cost-effective, increases productivity is scalable and reduces complexity.

The actual Object storage definition explains it as a data storage software or architecture that allows users to handle a large amount of unstructured data in distinct units called objects. The system doesn’t order data in a hierarchy or block files or storage. Each data is presented separately with a flexible amount of metadata and a unique ID number. This helps locates files fast from any device or location.

Object Storage as a data protection system

Object storage can stand in as a data storage backend for unstructured data, such as file stores data archives or a backup system to protect the transactional primary store. Data protection is classified into two types:

  • Physical damage
  • Logical damage

Organizations need to invest in a system that can handle the two data damages.

Physical damage

The physical damage includes visible issues that cause the drives, nodes or whole system to fail. The damage can result from natural disasters like floods or fires.

Logical damage

Logical damage is tampering with the data, files, objects or blocks through human error. Suppose someone hacks the system or causes a virus, thus damaging the system.

How object storage helps in data protection (physical and logical)

Technology has established systems like parity protection, including RAID and erasure coding or drive mirroring and replication to help with physical damage. The backup software is designed to cater for logical issues and recover lost data. However, implementing both facilities may require users to purchase separate systems to handle the damages.

Object Storage is a comprehensive software that comes with multiple benefits. The system handles data in units making it easy to protect from various issues. It’s considered best for data protection, making it the best fit for both physical and logical management.

Replication and Erasure coding

  • Replication

Traditional file or block storage systems are installed with either replication or erasure coding facilities. However, object storage comes with replication features that help with physical damage. Object storage replicates systems at the object level; this allows the object to store data in three locations. Some object storage replicates drives and nodes but provides the same split (three locations).

The three-segmentation process allows users to have a backup plan if one location is damaged. The process is simple and guaranteed. Administrators can create policies according to the type, age or activity of the number of copies they want. The user can also delete some copies as time passes or as they become irrelevant.

  • Erasure

Erasure coding is best for logical damages; the system is available on object storage software. Erasure divides objects into small pieces called shards or chunks to get parity shards. For example, an object can be divided into nine chunks and have three parity shards amounting to 9+3 configuration equals 12 chunks. The shards are disbursed into different nodes, sites and drives. The user can use nine out of 12 shards meaning the system can survive any outage. The Erasure coding help protect data from multiple damages and keeps the information intact. However, it’s expensive but best for organizations handling huge data.

Object storage accommodates both replication and erasure coding to provide comprehensive data protection. This means businesses can retrieve data from multiple locations after a simultaneous outage.

Object Storage practices

Organizations can utilize Object storage for various practices to benefit the business as follows?

  • Device failure

Most digital devices come with an inbuilt data protection system of 1 petabyte. The protection facility is significant but may take time to structure back once it fails. Implementing an object storage device will help store data in multiple devices, nodes, or sites, making it easy to recover.

  • Analyzing proof-of-concept

A proof-of-concept is an important practice for every business level to determine the type of object storage to invest in for their systems. The practice helps users check on different vendors and see whether they meet your business needs.

Why object storage for data protection

Object storage software is the perfect data protection solution; the system is durable and resilient to many data issues. It’s available in multiple components regardless of system failure. Object Storage is designed for Exabyte scale and geographical dispersion in different sites. It is compatible with erasure coding and replication facilities to help fight both physical and internal malware.