Corruption: operational error, expired tapes, mishandling of the tape or accidental overwrites caused by inserting or partially formatting the wrong tape
Physical Damage: broken tapes, dirty drives and damage caused by fire, flood or other natural disaster
Software Upgrades: inability for data on tape to be read by new application or servers
Even though tape has a great longevity for data storage, a lot can happen to make the data on them inaccessible. Our engineering team has seen it all. Some examples of successful recoveries include:
- Overwritten tapes (including DLT)
- Quick-erased or partially overwritten data from LTO (Ultrium) tape media
- Snapped or burnt tapes
- Tapes damaged by chemicals and smoke
- Software problems or backup failures
- Tapes immersed in flood water and mud
- Intentional or accidental physical damage