Today’s Thought: Disk is cheap but it’s not free

disk driveDisk is cheap but it’s not free.

With increased disk space comes increased responsibility to use it wisely. Additional expenses incur, particularly for backup, replication, and maintenance. Inexpensive disk drives cost more than the purchase price.

It’s a paradox in that when increasing the size of our databases, the value only occurs when we reduce all that raw data to information. The revelations needed to identify and provide more value to your organization only become apparent through reduction, the IT equivalent of chiseling Michelangelo’s Pietta out of a block of marble.

Value only comes through subtraction, not addition. Isolation of key facts, analysis, notification, and sculpting the data to your organizational needs are what really put you over the top, not just data point accumulation.

So it might be helpful to ask two questions the next time you need to ask disk to a server:

  • What don’t we need any more on this server?
  • What will we do with the additional information this new disk provides?

**************************************************

Follow Joe Hertvik on Twitter @JoeHertvik. You can also add Joe to your professional network on LinkedIn by clicking here.

About Joe Hertvik

Joe is the owner of Hertvik Business Services, a service company providing written white papers, case studies, and other marketing content to computer industry companies. He is also a contributing editor for IT Jungle and has written the Admin Alert column for the past ten years. Follow Joe Hertvik on Twitter @JoeHertvik. Email Joe for a free quote on white papers, case studies, brochures, or other marketing materials.
This entry was posted in opinion, storage. Bookmark the permalink.