Retirement and Long Term Retention
Your backup data may have moved to the cloud—but that does not mean it is benefiting from true cloud archive economics.
Many organisations using Dell PowerProtect Data Domain and PowerProtect Data Manager retain years of backup data in storage designed for frequent or immediate access. While this supports operational recovery, older data can remain dependent on Data Domain software, metadata, licensing and infrastructure.
Tape Ark helps identify low-access data that no longer needs to remain inside the operational backup environment. We migrate it into a secure, cost-optimised cloud archive and provide continuing access through Tape Ark Nexus—our SaaS platform for archive search, retention management and controlled recovery.
Keep recent recovery points in PowerProtect. Liberate inactive data into an archive designed for long-term economics.
Data Domain Cloud Tier extends backup retention into cloud object storage, but the information remains part of the Data Domain architecture.
This can create a costly mismatch. Data may be retained for ten or twenty years and rarely accessed, yet the organisation continues paying to maintain it as part of an operational recovery environment.
The costs can include:
Cloud storage is not automatically low-cost storage. The architecture, storage class and method of recovery determine the real cost.
Operational backups are designed to restore systems quickly after deletion, corruption, cyberattack or infrastructure failure.
Long-term archives preserve information for legal, regulatory, historical or business reasons—but may not be accessed for years.
| Operational backup | Long-term archive |
|---|---|
| Recent recovery points | Older, inactive data |
| Rapid system restoration | Low-probability access |
| Higher-performance storage | Cost-optimised archival storage |
| Managed in PowerProtect | Managed through Tape Ark Nexus |
| Short-to-medium retention | Multi-year or permanent retention |
PowerProtect can continue protecting workloads that require operational recovery. Tape Ark manages the long tail of data that must be retained but does not need to remain in an expensive backup tier.
Tape Ark provides a controlled migration service for organisations with long-term data held in Data Domain and PowerProtect environments.
We review the existing environment, including Data Domain systems, PowerProtect policies, retention periods, data age, recovery history, storage classes, licensing and support costs.
This establishes what should remain in PowerProtect, what can be archived and where the strongest savings may be available.
We separate the data into practical categories:
This ensures each category receives the appropriate level of access, protection and retention.
Approved data is recovered or exported through a controlled and supportable process.
Tape Ark validates the migrated content, captures available metadata and creates an independent archive that does not rely on the original backup appliance for normal discovery and retrieval.
Where practical, information can be preserved in open or application-appropriate formats rather than remaining indefinitely enclosed within a proprietary backup structure.
The liberated data is written to the customer’s nominated cloud environment using storage suited to its expected access profile.
This may include archive or deep-archive services in AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud or another supported object-storage platform.
The archive is then managed through Tape Ark Nexus.
Low-cost storage is only valuable if the organisation can understand and recover what it contains.
Tape Ark Nexus provides the active SaaS management layer over the archive while the underlying data remains in cost-effective, low-access storage.
Nexus capabilities can include:
Authorised users can locate retained information and request recovery without navigating legacy backup infrastructure.
Archival storage is intended for data that is unlikely to be accessed frequently. Recovery may take longer than an operational restore—and that delay is part of how the storage savings are achieved.
When information is required, an authorised user submits a request through Nexus. Tape Ark coordinates retrieval, validates the recovered data and delivers it to the approved destination.
Options can include selected file recovery, bulk restoration, delivery into the customer’s cloud account and assisted interpretation of legacy data.
This service does not require an organisation to abandon PowerProtect.
A phased approach can be used:
This allows customers to prove recoverability and savings before making broader changes.
The opportunity extends beyond cloud storage prices.
A long-term archive strategy may reduce:
Tape Ark can prepare a current-state and future-state assessment covering storage, infrastructure, licensing, migration and expected recovery activity.
This service is designed for organisations that:
Tape Ark will identify the oldest, least-accessed and most expensive part of your backup environment and determine whether it can be moved safely into a lower-cost archive.
The assessment can include:
Stop paying operational-backup prices for information that may not be accessed for years.
Tape Ark can liberate your low-access data, move it into a cost-optimised cloud archive and keep it searchable, governed and recoverable through Tape Ark Nexus.
Retain the data. Reduce the infrastructure. Restore it when it matters.
Speak to our team: https://www.tapeark.com/contact/
Tape Ark prides itself on its technical capability. Customers feel assured their objectives and unique challenges are well understood – what’s important to them, where they’re headed, and the opportunities that lie ahead.
Restoring data from legacy formats requires deep technical knowledge and experience.
At Tape Ark, we specialize in rapidly migrating media tapes to the cloud, regardless of volume, size, or format.
The world’s only dedicated tape to cloud mass migration experts.
