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What Is Data Deduplication?

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Data deduplication is a relatively new term. In the day and age of ever increasing file sizes and new programs, there must be ways to save space and improve system performance. Unfortunately, not all the data out there is neat and tidy. In many systems, you will find redundant files and unnecessary copies. These redundant files will slow the backup process and take up unnecessary space. Data reduplication is the process of removing those duplicates by reviewing the data streams and compressing the files.

How does it Work?

Removing duplicate data to improve system performance isn’t exactly a new idea. What makes data deduplication unique isn’t why it is done, it is how it is done. For example, if someone is trying to backup their email, they might use data deduplication to save space. There might be 100 emails in the system, and there might be 100 duplicate files under each and every one of those emails. Data deduplication is a form of intelligent compression. This process will save on copy of a file and remove the rest. Then, when opened, the user will be sent back to the original first file which will allow the file to open. .

When running, data deduplication will either go file by file or through chunks of data. It will enter the file, check the data and remove any streams that are duplicates of another. It will also remove old versions of a file when there are new backups available. In a traditional backup system, new files are saved next to old ones. In data deduplication, old versions are updated during each backup period, eliminating the duplicated data and speeding up the backup process by making the need to save larger, unchanged files over and over again unnecessary.

Why is it Needed?

Data deduplication is all about increasing storage space. Something that was 100 MB of data can be reduced to 1MB. This will increase system performance and save space for backups. It will also improve bandwidth performance when used on a server. When trying to recover a system following a disaster, using files that have gone through the data deduplication process will take a little bit longer, but the files will be the same. Finally, data deduplication makes saving and finding the most recent version of a backup easier, by simply updating old backup files. This will reduce storage costs for offsite data backups.

Data deduplication is often used with other standard compression and storage saving techniques. The goal of this is to make the overall data of a system as small as possible. This way, users can eliminate the need for backup tapes and files. In a standard backup, the same data might be saved over and over again, causing redundant files and longer backup periods. With data duplication, the old files are modified to add new changes. This eliminates duplicates and saves time for backing up systems. . By efficiently using the space available, businesses can save time and money using the data deduplication process.