In litigation, relevant communications are invaluable evidence, and emails frequently play key roles in court decisions and settlements. Many organizations are required by law to retain all emails for a specific period — and when litigation begins, email retention requirements must be executed immediately and thoroughly.

Today, most enterprises have established email retention policies for all (data regardless of...

The rise of ransomware has highlighted the need for air-gapped backups, and data tapes have become the most popular tools for fighting back.

The United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recommends offsite, offline backups as a ransomware mitigation strategy, noting that most ransomware infections cannot be resolved...

On Sept. 7, 2021, Fujifilm Recording Media USA officially announced the launch — and crucially, the availability — of the Fujifilm LTO Ultrium 9 data cartridge.

The LTO-9 format is widely expected to supplant LTO-8 as the data tape cartridge of choice for enterprise archival storage. That process may take years; enterprise adoption of new tape formats can be slow due to the perceived (and real) costs of tape migration. Nevertheless,...

Fujifilm has announced its first data tape cartridge using the specifications of the Linear Tape Open (LTO) Ultrium 9 specifications. LTO-9 tapes offer a 50% improved capacity over the previous generation (LTO-8) with enhanced access speeds of up to 900 megabytes per second (MB/s).

Crucially, LTO-9 is fully backward-compatible with the previous generation. Backwards compatibility is one of the primary marketing points of the LTO format:...

Data tape restoration can be challenging, particularly when the data is pertinent to a legal action. That’s true for both archival data migration projects (backups retained by a law firm to comply with court orders and/or regulatory requirements) and tape restoration projects.

At Total Data Migration, we work frequently with law firms and electronic discovery services. In this blog, we’ll address some simple questions that can make data...

Backup tapes are commonly targeted during electronic discovery, but without proper methodology, tape restoration can be expensive and burdensome. Law firms have an obligation to limit costs, and an experienced tape restoration partner can be an important resource.

A backup set is likely to contain a large amount of redundant and irrelevant data. Combing through a large set of data tapes can cause an enormous increase in e-discovery...

Protecting sensitive data isn’t always easy. Shredding is one of the most popular methods of data sanitization for tape cartridges, and on its surface, it seems like an appropriate choice — it’s inexpensive, easy, and provides visual evidence of the destruction attempt.

Unlike other techniques like degaussing (which has other potential issues that we address in this article), shredding is mostly automatic. Many...

Determining when to migrate to a new backup format isn’t always easy, particularly when you’re making that decision towards the end of a generation. This year, Linear Tape Open (LTO) 9 will launch with a greatly expanded capacity compared with LTO-8.

Of course, if your business is still using older formats like LTO-7, you’re not alone. Enterprises often skip a generation when upgrading their archives, since regularly migrating to the...

Backwards compatibility can be extraordinarily helpful for organizations with large tape libraries. Linear Tape Open (LTO) drives can read and write tapes from the previous generation (for instance, an LTO-8 drive can use LTO-7) tapes. Prior to the 8th generation, LTO drives could also read tapes from two generations back (for instance, LTO-7 drives could read LTO-5 tapes, but not write to them).

This is one of the major benefits of...

Data tapes can significantly reduce security vulnerabilities, and many businesses are turning to tape for protection against ransomware attacks. It’s a strong strategy, as air-gapped backups can allow for quick disaster recovery in a disaster. However, all backup strategies need to be assessed carefully.

Modern...

Proper media sanitization is an important component of a well-rounded archival strategy. However, it’s not necessarily straightforward. Degaussing tapes can leave data intact, and shredding data tapes with commercial equipment isn’t a secure solution.

Tape incineration is a much safer method. It’s approved by the Department of Defense and the National Security Agency, and it eliminates any chance of data recovery by eradicating both...

For large enterprises, media sanitization can be a difficult prospect — particularly when the target is terabytes or petabytes of data on magnetic tape media. The goal of media sanitization is to irrevocably render all data irrecoverable, and tape cartridges have unique characteristics that become more formidable at scale.

No two data tape destruction projects are identical, but the right approach can improve security and cost...

Enterprises build data archives for a variety of reasons, but whether your business aims to keep long-term copies of historical data or comply with retainment obligations, your archives are only useful if they’re accessible. Older data tape formats can create issues here — many tape formats aren’t easily indexable, and without near-perfect recordkeeping, an enterprise may need to load and review data from hundreds of tapes in order to find...

Poor data security creates serious liabilities for any organization. Given the growing threats of ransomware, identity theft, and security-related litigation, many businesses have taken appropriate steps to safeguard their networks.

Unfortunately, many of these companies still rely on outdated data erasure techniques. Software-based data deletion needs to be handled carefully, which can mean hefty costs for...

The recent ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline led to significant downtime for crucial American fuel infrastructure — and a $4.4 million payment to the bad actors behind the attack. Unfortunately, the event was not isolated, and ransomware is expected to pose a significant threat in 2021.

In...

Ransomware attacks continue to draw headlines — and cost world economies billions of dollars per year. In May 2021, the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack became the most high-profile case of ransomware penetration in recent memory. For the time being, the attackers won; the company reportedly paid nearly $5 million to restore the infected...

Insurgo and Total Data Migration (TDM) are proud to announce their partnership for tape media recycling, as TDM now utilizes the revolutionary and uniquely patented data tape erasure technology KIT® (Kills Information on Tape) and SWAT® (Securely Wipes all Tracks) created and offered by Insurgo.

As the producer of this unique patented data erasure technology, Insurgo developed KIT® following many years of...

Several months ago, a prominent Nationwide Eye Care integrator acquired and merged a new leading eye care service provider into their network. Two weeks into the completion of this acquisition, the new company was attacked by ransomware causing a complete shutdown of their databases containing all patient information. This created a serious problem for the acquiring company as they were now unable to retrieve or provide any information to...

Total Data Migration is the foremost expert in magnetic tape processing within litigation & eDiscovery, supporting more tape types and formats, a larger combination of email, data and voice formats and providing a wider range of global delivery options. For our partners, handling jobs for their clients allows us to offer the best-of-breed tape solutions alongside your specialist' skills elevating the service you...