Introduced in 2003, EMC Centera was the world's first disk-based WORM data storage device, providing Write Once Read Many (WORM) functionality to applications that required data to be stored on a non-rewriteable, non-erasable storage medium for regulatory compliance and legal discovery purposes.
Due to the exponentially increasing amounts of data being generated, organizations began implementing EMC Centera mainly because the performance of traditional archival devices such as optical libraries and tape libraries became unable to meet the demands of what is now called an "active archive", data that is still requested day-to-day, but needs to be retained for long-term legal discovery and regulatory compliance.
Although the EMC Centera is one of the most successful data storage devices to serve as a performance-superior replacement for tape and optical libraries, many organizations failed to understand the complicated architecture of Centera, how data is written to and retrieved from Centera, and most importantly, how to migrate data out of Centera, once their device reaches the end of its "reasonable service period".
In addition, because many compliance laws mandate that electronic data files need to be retained for 7 – 10 years (or more) on a write-once medium, the data stored on an EMC Centera will, in most instances, outlast the reasonable service period of that Centera, thereby requiring a data migration before the data meets its disposition status and can be purged from the archive.
Challenges with Migrating Off Centera
When an application delivers a data object to an EMC Centera, the API writing to the device calculates a 128-bit "claim check" uniquely derived from the objects binary representation and the metadata for the object, including filename, creation date, etc., and is inserted into an XML file called a C-Clip.
Because Centera stores data as a C-Clip, rather than in a native file format using standard file naming conventions (DOC, XLS, PDF, etc), files are not directly viewable using Windows Explorer, and likewise, are not directly readable by Microsoft applications, Adobe Acrobat, TIFF image viewers, etc.
As a result of the inability to "browse" files and directory structures and subsequently issue a copy-and-paste procedure, DOS xcopy command, or utilize a third-party file management utility to migrate files out of Centera, data migration efforts pose significant challenges and risks to the integrity of the data.
How we can help you Migrate Data out of Centera
Depending on the size and number of objects in the archive, migrating data out of EMC Centera may require a significant amount of time, and most organizations are unwilling to lose access to their data during this effort.
Our purpose-built Centera migration utility not only provides users with continuous access to the data, but allows administrators to decide how to divide resources between access and migration to ensure business and IT requirements can be continually met.
For data that has met its retention period, our software provides a powerful set of inclusion and exclusion filters that will migrate only the subset of data that is required, saving time, money, and storage capacity on the new device.
To maintain regulatory compliance for laws such as SEC 17a-4 and Sarbanes-Oxley, every step of the migration process is captured and logged, beginning with selecting the source data, and ending with post-migration verification of file content on the target system, thereby documenting the chain-of-custody for each file.
Additionally, reporting capabilities will list reasons why files were not migrated, including filter exclusion rules and missing or corrupt data, satisfying even the most demanding auditors with the resulting quality of the migrated data.
Contact Us today at 866-885-2950 to discuss how we can help you migrate your data out of EMC Centera |
