5 Ways to Avoid Video Challenges with Specialty Storage

Faster, Smoother, Cheaper Backups

In addition to being super-sized, video data is unique in a second way: these files are static. While users may clip pieces of these files to make new files, the original files aren't modified. For this reason, they can create an unnecessary burden in the backup process.

Smart, incremental backup technologies will avoid backing up these files, but when you need to do a full backup, these large static files will get copied – over and over again, using lots of bandwidth and storage. Moreover, unless a file is an exact copy of a prior video, these files can't benefit from data deduplication, but their volume and capacity will consume compute resources as the deduplication process attempts to do its (fruitless) job. Meanwhile, other non-video files will be waiting to be protected.

This challenge is exacerbated by video's long useful life. Video data is often high value, causing it to be saved for years. As a first step, simply identifying this data and segregating it from normal backups will have a strong positive impact on backup schedules and costs. In addition, moving it to specialty storage will provide the greatest benefits.

Video-optimized storage is architected with smart metadata that only stores copies of new versions as files, groupings of files, or directories are added. This model avoids the need for a traditional file walk process and optimizes the capacity of protected storage. As a result, backups of all data will operate more smoothly.