Optical Archive

Optical Blu-ray archives configurations are similar to tape. The big difference is in the media itself. Blu- ray technology is designed for wide use within the consumer/video market. Hence it is reliable, robust and like its predecessors CD/DVD, it will be widely available for coming years.

Optical/Blu-ray technology meets the archive requirements as follows:

1) Lower cost than existing primary storage
- Yes, total cost of ownership is lower than primary RAID
–Low energy consumption and cooling costs
–No need for constant backup

2) Long term retention
- Yes, Media designed for up to 50 years
- Blu-ray is the successor to CD/DVD which has a long history

3) Compliance with regulations
- Yes, BD-R is unalterable, WORM (Write Once Read Many) media

4) Transparent access to archival information
- Yes, provide a link between existing primary RAID and archive
- Optical media is random access, giving fast access to individual files
- Access time to files is slower than nearline RAID but faster than tape

5) Offline management of very old information
- Yes, Removability of media allows for off-lining of information
- Media has a hard coat to protect it
- Magazine, SmartPack, used to handle media outside of library

With the current concern about global warming and the drive to reduce carbon omissions it is also important to compare the power consumption of the 3 options. In combination with all the standard features of optical archiving ( 50+ year media life, low power consumption, random access etc), Blu-ray optical archives are uniquely suited to sustainable long term information archival.