Cold Storage Is the Solution To Mass Data Harvesting
Published: 2022-05-13 14:24:19

The amount of data produced on a daily basis is growing at an incredible rate, far surpassing similar numbers only a few years ago. In fact, every two days, we create the same amount of data as we did from the [start of time all the way until 2003](http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/04/schmidt-data/). The past two years have been an unprecedented moment in the world of data, with [90% of all data being created since 2020](https://cloudnine.com/ediscoverydaily/electronic-discovery/date-fun-facts-big-data-ediscovery-trends/).

Businesses that exist within this digital space are now having to deal with more data than ever before, placing additional strain on data storage facilities. Although there are a range of effective storage solutions, part of the most effective cloud data storage structures have higher fees to account for their instant access services. 

With the sheer quantity of data stored by businesses growing every single day, to continually keep this data in a primary repository often leads to clutter and a costly data storage bill. Yet, in our new data era, moving to cold storage acts as an effective solution, reducing costs while providing an accessible infrastructure for the archival of seldom-accessed data sets.

In this article, we’ll be exploring cold storage for data, demonstrating its benefits and outlining exactly how it’s perfectly aligned to cope with our astronomical data production.

**What is Cold Storage?**

When it comes to data, temperature is used as a metaphor to suggest the level of traffic that comes to the data. If a data set is constantly being accessed by various people on a regular basis, then it is ‘hot’. Alternatively, if a data set is only used once a month or even less frequently, it would be characterized as ‘cold’. 

With the difference in frequency that people access this information also comes a distinct data architecture that’s needed to hold this data. Cold storage doesn’t need to be accessed quickly or particularly often, meaning that the data storage type can be one that is slower to react and query.

On the other hand, hot data storage must be continually accessed, meaning it needs data infrastructure on hand that facilitates rapid navigation through the data. While cold storage might take between a few seconds and even a few minutes to respond to a query, hot storage is fast-paced and will likely have absolutely no delay. 

While the data infrastructure used for hot storage is more effective for fast analysis, cold data simply just doesn’t need that level of access and efficiency. While someone may access the data once a month, there is never going to be any huge rush, meaning that cheaper, slower, but reliable cold storage is a wonderful option.


**What are the benefits of Cold Storage?**

With more data being produced, processed, and used on a daily basis, the need for a secure location to store older data is vital. Even data that is currently deemed hot can naturally become cooler over time, eventually shifting into something that’s accessed very infrequently. Instead of getting rid of all of this data, which could indeed prove as useful down the line, companies can turn to cold storage for their data sets. 

By moving towards cold storage, businesses are able to keep their data on hand, without having to pay exuberant costs for a high-volume and high-capacity cloud data warehouse. That’s not all, with there being several common benefits associated with cold storage:

* Cheaper than technologies for hot data 
* Simplifies archiving 
* Prevents overload 

Let’s break these down further.

**Cost**

When paying for a cloud data infrastructure, whether that be a warehouse or a [delta lake](https://www.firebolt.io/blog/the-real-meaning-of-a-data-lake), if you’re continually accessing the data, you will want to pay for a faster tier of service. Being able to instantly access data is a vital part of how businesses produce live analytics, enabling them to make data-driven decisions in a variety of departments.

With the advantage of instant access for the purpose of analysis with hot data comes much higher fees. Especially when you factor in that the amount of data being stored by businesses is [doubling every 1.2 years](http://www.waterfordtechnologies.com/blog/file-archiving/big-data-interesting-facts/), if all data was located within hot data storage, a company would have to pay significantly more.

By switching to a cold storage format, businesses are able to save a great deal of money, combating the rising amounts of data while also getting a useful solution that allows them to still have access to that archived data.

**Simplifies Archiving**

While data can fade from hot to warm to cold, this process doesn’t necessarily mean that the data is now useless or completely outdated. In fact, some data actually gains use as it becomes older, allowing data analysts to compare business metrics in the present moment to that of a year ago, two years ago, or even five years ago and beyond.

By utilizing cold storage for data, and providing this architecture for those that manage data within your company to use, you’re supplying them with the perfect place to archive files. When a piece of data is identified as less frequently used, instead of being outright deleted, it can be marked. From there, if no one opens it for another week or so, it can then be relocated from your hot storage to your company’s cold storage.

With this, you’re able to create an effective archival system, making sure you always have access to older data without any major hassle. Equally, cold storage provides a centralized location where people can go for historical data, making navigating through datasets in search of a specific piece of information significantly easier.

As businesses are required to manage increasingly large data pools, the ability to archive effectively will become paramount.

**Prevents Overload**

Following on from the ease of archiving data that cold storage provides, it also ensures that your central data systems that employees rely on remain clear and concise. 

Even in the age of cloud data storage, a business still can only have so much storage on hand for their staff to access at any given time. Due to this, by relocating any data that is accessed less frequently to cold data storage, businesses are able to optimize their digital space, preventing their primary storage technologies from being cluttered with less useful data.

If your primary repositories are flooded with inactive, cold data, then you’re instantly creating more work for your data engineers, creating clutter within your data architecture, and wasting money by paying for high-performance storage for data that simply does not need to be included in this system.

Turning to cold storage is an effective solution for the rising amounts of data that your systems will come across, allowing you to prioritize data and free up space within your primarily accessed cloud repository.

**Final Thoughts**

In our new data era, where over [2.5 quintillion bytes of data](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiau7_Cw9b3AhV4SDABHRMfCukQFnoECBYQAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fseedscientific.com%2Fhow-much-data-is-created-every-day%2F&usg=AOvVaw2nu4cnMQNdJKYleYV_K13p) are being produced every single day, businesses need to move to systems that effectively prioritize their data management. Cold storage is the solution to our ever-increasing data landscape, providing a cost-effective and optimized solution for data that is less frequently used.

While providing a platform for data archival, the cost of cold storage for data ensures that no company data is ever truly lost. With this, companies can retain large amounts of data without incurring huge fees. If data engineers ever need to delve into past data repositories, cold data ensures that business data is always available for analysis.