Re: Help w/ offsite backups

[John Hall <jhall@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Magnetic Media is pretty resilient.  What you want to do is hire a
records storage company to transport and store your tapes.  They should
be using halon (or similar) protected vans and storage vaults.  Also the
vans will be climate controlled.  Any locking transport case should be
sufficient for your needs.  They will pickup and deliver at your site. 
They should also be able to deliver to an alternate hot site in 4 to 6
hours.

John Hall
Home Sales Co

> 
>         To:     MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
>         cc:
>         Subject:        Help w/ offsite backups
> 
> The auditors are beating their drums around here and have decided to
> implement
> a requirement for off-site backup for our branch AS/400s.  This is coming
> to
> me second-hand, so I don't know the specifics, except that we are now
> requiring our branches to send to us (at corporate) via 2-day express mail
> the
> backup tapes (cartidges) from the Thursday night backups.  We will have a
> 3-week cycle of tapes.  Week 1 arrives, we send back week 3.  Week 2
> arrives,
> we send back week 1.  Week 3 arrives, we send back week 2.  This is a
> quick-to-implement, temporary plan to satisfy the auditors immediately; in
> the
> near future, we will be looking at off-site storage services local to the
> branch, as well as on-site safe storage, among other options.  So
> pleeezze, no
> lectures on all the shortcomings of this plan.  We know the shortcomings -
> 'nuff said.
> 
> Questions:
> How should we go about *safely* packaging this media?
> Someone brought up the concern of stray magnetic waves that could hit the
> media between point A and point B, effectively destroying the data.  Is
> this a
> real concern?  If so, how does one effectively protect magnetic media when
> shipping it?
> Anybody know of import/export rules for this type of material for Mexico,
> Canada, and the U.K.?
> Anybody doing this recommend (or not) any particular delivery service
> company?
> 
> TIA.
> 
> - Dan
> Dan Bale says "Ban Dale!"
> IT - AS/400
> Handleman Company
> 248-362-4400  Ext. 4952
> D.Bale@Handleman.com
>   Quiquid latine dictum sit altum viditur.
>   (Whatever is said in Latin seems profound.)
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