Which storage medium is most appropriate for long-term, off-site archiving, given cost efficiency?

Which storage medium is most appropriate for long-term, off-site archiving, given cost efficiency?

• A. HDD
• B. SSD
• C. Tape
• D. SCSI

Answer: (C)

For long-term off-site archiving with cost considerations, the key is media that offers the lowest cost per gigabyte and can be kept offline and physically secure. Tape excels here: modern tape cartridges store large amounts of data at a very low cost per TB, and when stored properly they have a long shelf life. They also enable easy off-site transport and offline storage, which is ideal for archival copies and protection against online threats. In contrast, hard disk drives and solid-state drives are more expensive per GB and typically stay online, consuming power and requiring ongoing maintenance, which isn’t efficient for archival datasets. SCSI is an interface, not a storage medium, so it doesn’t define the archiving capability by itself. Tape is the practical, cost-effective choice for long-term archival storage.

For long-term off-site archiving with cost considerations, the key is media that offers the lowest cost per gigabyte and can be kept offline and physically secure. Tape excels here: modern tape cartridges store large amounts of data at a very low cost per TB, and when stored properly they have a long shelf life. They also enable easy off-site transport and offline storage, which is ideal for archival copies and protection against online threats. In contrast, hard disk drives and solid-state drives are more expensive per GB and typically stay online, consuming power and requiring ongoing maintenance, which isn’t efficient for archival datasets. SCSI is an interface, not a storage medium, so it doesn’t define the archiving capability by itself. Tape is the practical, cost-effective choice for long-term archival storage.