Data deduplication is a way to reduce storage space – primarily in a backup/archiving environment. It works by eliminating redundant data and ensuring that only one unique instance of the data is actually retained on storage media, such as disk or tape. Redundant data is replaced with a pointer to the unique data copy.
Two types:
- File deduplication: If two files are exactly alike, one copy is stored and subsequent iterations receive pointers to saved file. File deduplication is not very efficient because change of a single bit results in totally different copy of entire file being stored.
- Block and bit deduplication look within a file and save unique iterations of each block. If file is updated, only changed data is saved. This makes block and bit deduplication far more efficient.
Request a Data Deduplication Discovery Session from Mosaic
Our Deduplication Discovery Session is a complementary session where we meet with you – on site or by phone – and give you an independent assessment of what impact deduplication could have in your environment.
We'll review the five common types of deduplication and help you with initial scoping. You can leverage our expertise to get a fix on the benefits, potential problems, and budget implications deduplication could have on your operations.
Deduplication can achieve compression ratios ranging from 10-to-1 to 50-to-1. However, block and bit deduplication take more processing power and use a much larger index to track the individual blocks.
Deduplication Implementations
The data deduplication process is implemented in hardware within a storage system or in backup software. Hardware-based implementations are usually easier to deploy and are geared to reducing storage at the disk level within the appliance or storage system. More...
