These of us with giant information storage wants immediately are spoiled, with laborious drives totaling over 20 terabytes, and choices like distant cloud storage provide just about limitless storage, in case you are prepared to pay. Step again to 1998, and issues had been fairly completely different. In keeping with one supply, a 12-gigabyte laborious drive value $349 (the equal of greater than $650 in 2024).
Whereas 12 gigabytes of storage was giant for the time, laborious drives weren’t the one resolution for information storage. Magnetic tape storage has been round practically for the reason that begin of computing. It is available in a wide range of sizes, with various tape widths and lengths. Trendy Linear Tape-Open, or LTO, codecs assist 18 terabytes of uncompressed information, or as much as 45 terabytes if it compresses properly.
Magnetic tape had a couple of benefits over media like laborious drives. Magnetic tapes usually saved extra information than different up to date codecs. As an example, Digital Knowledge Storage 2, or DDS-2, which launched in 1993, might retailer 4 gigabytes of uncompressed information, a considerable amount of information when CD-ROM adoption had simply began to take off. The tape media itself was usually cheaper than different types of storage, however the drives to learn and write the media had been far more costly, costing 1000’s of {dollars}. Nonetheless, for big firms utilizing giant quantities of knowledge, tape was the way in which to go.
Whereas tape was usually too sluggish to make use of as direct storage, it was a examined and dependable type of backup storage. Backups could possibly be scheduled to run at a particular time, with automated robotic tape libraries switching out tapes, simply permitting information backups to span throughout a number of tapes for even bigger storage swimming pools, with out human intervention. Not like laborious drives, which have comparatively fragile information platters, tape cartridges are extra strong, making them a great candidate to retailer remotely off web site for extra information safety.
It needs to be no shock then that many online game builders used, and proceed to make use of, tape backup as one type of storage. However recovering information from previous tape backups isn’t a certain factor. Because the know-how superior, the safety know-how did too, with encryption stopping anybody with no key from recovering any information in any respect. With out that key, it will be practically not possible to get well information.
When no encryption was used, it could possibly nonetheless be troublesome to get well information from tape backups. The tape drives themselves, as soon as essential (and costly) units, had been usually used till they couldn’t perform anymore, so discovering {hardware} that may be trusted immediately could be troublesome. Older tapes can have a number of situation points, together with sticky-shed syndrome, the place the tape deteriorates and will get left behind on the now-precious {hardware}.
Even when each the {hardware} and storage media are in good situation, there isn’t a assure that the information shall be accessible. A variety of software program has been created to assist within the creation of backups, however many of those codecs are largely undocumented, which leaves some codecs inaccessible outdoors of utilizing dated legacy software program, which can require licenses and activation providers that now not are supported and even exist.
Discovering what software program was used to initially create the backup could be troublesome. Utilizing Linux and the command-line program “dd,” backups of the tape can usually be made, although there will not be a technique to entry what was saved. Hopefully, the dd backup will reveal what program was used, as some applications would go away a marker at the start of a tape that indicated the software program used.
And I’ve gotten fortunate prior to now, with remnants of “NT Backup,” a Home windows utility, or “Backup Exec,” a well-liked backup program, left within the header, sufficient for me to correctly decode the tapes utilizing each classic and newly-created software program. In different instances, I’ve needed to dig deeper to search out the answer.
Typically, there are not any instantly apparent clues. However luck is a humorous factor, and one electronic mail, readable by means of a hex editor of a dd backup, was from a methods administrator on the sport developer, which not solely gave me a touch to a particular individual that will know extra, but additionally contained directions to workers telling them to exclude sure recordsdata from tape backup utilizing a “arcagent.log.” With a fast Google search revealing only a handful of outcomes, it was clear that “Arcserve” was the possible software program used, and utilizing some previous software program I’ve been capable of affirm that’s the case.
As a result of it’s at all times a pleasant feeling to obtain further affirmation, digging by means of the recordsdata that had been cataloged gave the last word affirmation: the tapes had a model of Arcserve 6 backed up. One of many almost-magical issues about information tape restoration is that you just actually don’t know what is likely to be on them! Whereas sport builders would usually burn CD or different optical discs containing accomplished tasks, tape backups can seize a lot of the day-to-day of a studio, with electronic mail conversations, a developer’s desktop on a given day, and in-progress concepts or ideas that solely seem on these tapes, as they might by no means make it to or be related to the ultimate venture.
The dearth of documentation for a lot of of those codecs can create an enormous, virtually insurmountable, roadblock for digital preservation professionals. Knowledge restoration firms do exist, however I’ve but to search out one prepared to share particulars about how they work, which isn’t shocking given it’s their enterprise! It will also be troublesome to discern what their capabilities are, or the ultimate value of the restoration.
Knowledge restoration is only one step of many within the preservation course of. Accessing, analyzing, and storing the ensuing information provides additional complexity, however on the finish of the day, it’s the closest factor to touring in a time machine. So what precisely is on these tapes that I’ve been recovering? Keep tuned…
Article written by Andrew Borman, Director of Digital Preservation at The Robust
