Storage data deduplication is highly beneficial for all businesses dealing with lots of data. You don’t want to pay for unnecessary storage for similar or identical data. But the benefits don’t end there. Data deduplication, or dedupe, makes data storage and data management more efficient and helps your organization run more smoothly. Learn how data dedupe works and how you can benefit from it.
How Storage Data Deduplication Works
Data deduplication eliminates redundant copies of data and files to reduce storage use and costs. Depending on the method and algorithms, it can work on the block, file, or individual byte level. Essentially, the data dedupe system looks for duplicate copies of data, deletes them, and uses a reference point to the original data. So, instead of keeping hundreds of duplicates, the system says: “Hmm, this same data repeats. So, let’s just keep one instance of it and recall it whenever it’s asked for.”
The simplest way to understand the data deduplication meaning is through an example. Imagine an entire sales department receiving a PDF email attachment from management via the business server. That could be tens or hundreds of duplicate emails with the same PDF. The dedupe system would only store a single email and its PDF and reference it to everyone receiving the email. The storage would occupy several MBs instead of hundreds.
However, the dedupe can also work on the individual byte and block levels. So, if you had two similar data points, the data deduplication could store one fully, while the other would reference the same data from the first one + the difference between the two.
For example, if you stored two similar architecture CAD models, one of which includes an additional floor plan while everything else is the same, the data dedupe wouldn’t store the duplicate data twice. Instead, it would store the original data once and the difference between the two while referencing the original data in the file with the additional floor plan.
Data deduplication can even use unique data as a reference point in files of different types. For example, you have a line in a Word document that repeats in the Excel sheet. So, that line would be referenced instead of being stored twice! Now imagine that with millions of lines that repeat throughout your databases, sheets, emails, etc.
Is Data Deduplication the Only Method of Reducing Storage Use?
Advanced systems, like the Dell PowerStore storage, use multiple methods to reduce data use. For example, the Dell PowerStore achieves a guaranteed minimum of 5:1 data reduction using highly advanced data deduplication, pattern matching, and data compression mechanisms. While data deduplication is a critical element, it’s not the only system used for advanced data reduction.
Data Deduplication Methods
- Inline Deduplication: Eliminates duplicate data before it’s written to storage. It requires more processing power but reduces the size of the data transfer, improving performance and speed.
- Post-process Deduplication: Removes duplicate data after it’s written to storage. It doesn’t need as much processing power, but duplicate data isn’t removed in real time.
Data Deduplication Benefits
Storage data deduplication provides numerous benefits. When businesses are storing more data than ever, you don’t want to waste your storage resources on duplicate data. Instead of scrambling to figure out how to scale your storage, high-quality data reduction solutions can help you significantly reduce the resource cost of storage.
Bandwidth and Network Efficiency
Data deduplication can enhance data transfer operations. Minimizing upload and download data size will decrease bandwidth consumption and accelerate data transfers. This is particularly helpful in conserving network resources for large backups and extensive file sharing within your team.
Better Backup Performance
Backups… the bane of storage. You don’t want to deal with them but can’t do without them. However, you can achieve far more backup capacity and performance with advanced data reduction technologies. Likewise, the data dedupe process can help improve data integrity during backup.
Duplicate backup data is one of the worst culprits of excessive data proliferation. Not using a data dedupe system for backups can significantly increase storage costs and negatively affect backup performance.
Retain Your Data Longer
You won’t have to get rid of the old data as frequently using data deduplication. Since you store data more efficiently, you can keep more free space. Usually, businesses must get rid of older data to make room for new data coming in. But you can extend that window and possibly benefit from longer data retention.
Storage Savings
Saving on storage space means reducing your storage costs. Businesses add terabytes or even petabytes of data every year, substantially increasing their storage system needs. As noted in Dell’s PowerStore Data Efficiency technical review, the Enterprise Strategy Group research has concluded that 32% of organizations experience more than 50% data growth annually, with the average organization managing about 3 PB of data.
The more data you store, the more resources you must spend on it. Dell’s data reduction technologies, which include advanced data dedupe methods, can help you significantly cut costs.
Reduced Footprint Costs
Not only does data deduplication reduce storage costs, but it also reduces the storage system’s physical footprint. So, you need less hardware, space, and energy for cooling. Likewise, reducing the amount of hardware used lessens the chances of failure and reduces maintenance costs.
Data Deduplication Use Cases
Data deduplication and other advanced data reduction technologies are highly beneficial for general-purpose file servers, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) servers, backup systems, data lakes, and other storage-intensive applications. Let’s now see a few real-world examples to understand better how you can use data dedupe for your business.
- Virtual computing: Since virtual desktops usually rely on very similar data (duplicated files across systems), data deduplication can prevent your storage from excessive load by virtual machines.
- Healthcare: Patients may need services from multiple departments, such as radiology, laboratory, or specialists. Instead of having their records multiplied across different sectors, data dedupe can remove duplicate data to reduce storage needs.
- Education: A university can use separate databases for courses, admissions, alumni, financial aid, and majors. However, student data may be used across various databases, leading to storage proliferation. Data dedupe can prevent students’ data from being processed and stored redundantly and improve the system’s reliability and stability.
- Software as a service (SaaS): Most SaaS businesses accept file/data uploads from users. However, users can typically upload the same data multiple times or start service instances that are very similar. Data reduction technologies can eliminate duplicates and help you maintain a stable service without excessive storage costs.
Dell Storage Solutions For Advanced Data Deduplication and Storage Reduction
The Dell PowerStore storage uses data reduction technologies to deduplicate and compress all writes to the system as efficiently as possible. So, regardless of the file type, you always get maximum data reduction.
First, data passes through pattern detection methods, reviewing it for all ones and zeros. As soon as the system spots a pattern, deduplication occurs, and metadata is created for it. Dell PowerStore observes 4 KB data blocks and assigns them the reference metadata if any duplicate blocks are found.
With every software upgrade, the PowerStore improves, including its data reduction performance. For example, Dell offers a 5:1 data reduction guarantee today, while not so long ago, it offered a 4:1 guarantee. This trend is only going to get better as Dell’s advanced data reduction methods become more effective. All Dell storage users get free upgrades for the life of the product. PowerStore not only provides industry-leading storage reduction today, but it also helps you future-proof your business.
vTECH io Helps You Choose & Implement the Best Storage Technologies
Implementing data deduplication efficiently requires using a storage solution that matches your business needs. Therefore, it’s critical to work with a dedicated engineering team to get the most out of your storage!
vTECH io establishes long-term relationships with all customers (2,000+ satisfied clients so far!). Our team of highly experienced engineers will get to know your systems, data needs, IT environment, and workloads to help you use storage in the most effective way possible. Contact us today, and have our experts do the heavy lifting for you. As a Dell Platinum Partner, we’re well-equipped to help handle any IT complexities without headaches.
