Uncloud Storage
Solutions Case Study:
Freelance Author - Publisher
The Background
For some background, the freelance author-publisher, that is at the center of this solutions study, is based in South Denver and is actively engaged in the creation and publishing of cookbooks.
The client is also actively maintaining a blog that hosts a selection of their recipes and an online store where their cookbooks can be purchased.
As part of the client’s gracious participation in our case study series, they have requested to remain anonymous.
The Problem
The client had a five alarm data disaster!
Their main storage appliance was from 2017 with 5 spinning disks that have run continuously since then.
Owing to the extreme slowness of this aging appliance, the client resorted to storing their working files on 3 additional solid state drives of varying size.
Long term backups were split between two large USB hard disk drives, and the aging storage appliance.
With their current system, the client found themselves wasting a huge amount of the workday searching for files in their very fragmented backup system.
The extremely complicated nature of their backup system made a data loss nightmare inevitable.
Unfortunately, this nightmare came true when multiple irreplaceable recipes were permanently lost in an accidental cascade of spaghetti and meatballs.
With the steadily increasing amount of wasted time, and the ever present threat of data loss, it was decided that something had to be done about this data disaster.
The Bad Option
Knowing that something had to be done, the client ordered a plan for a storage redesign with their current tech-services contractor.
While the tech-contractor could work on data storage, it wasn’t their specialty, and that lack of competency was on full display in the proposed plan.
In the end, the tech-contractor created a plan that involved a hideously complicated and expensive backup scheme.
The proposed plan was to set up two new storage appliances, both stored on-site, with fully manual copying and updating of the files between both appliances.
This plan would have cost over $10,000 in grossly oversized storage appliances, new disk drives, and new networking appliances.
Finally, a monthly support contract was slapped onto the bill with 6 mandatory support hours billed at $600 per month and $110 per billable additional hour.
This massive upfront and ongoing expense was unacceptable to the client.
There had to be a better way.
The Solution
Shortly after the first attempt with the tech-contractor, the client, while searching for an alternative answer, discovered Uncloud Storage®.
It was quickly decided that our unique blend of turnkey solutions and expert data storage consulting was the right fit for their business.
With guidance from the client on their unique business needs, we were able to create and implement a new cost-effective plan for the most efficient storage of their data.
Our best-fit data storage solution included the deployment of 4 Terabytes of our flagship Uncloud Storage® complete business backup product.
Our flagship product addresses the client’s need for extra reliable storage with our hybrid cloud design. Our system automatically builds 3+ encrypted copies of their data, and sends copies to both our high-speed recovery engine and to our long-term off-site archive vault in our private cloud.
Since our flagship product is focused on data backup, our data storage consultants also recommended the purchase of an additional 4 Terabyte solid state drive to hold the client’s working copy of their books and recipes.
As part of our solution, we also educated the client about proper backup maintenance and how our systems can quickly recover their data in the event of an emergency.
We were able to save our client over $9,000 of upfront cost, and over $200 per month in ongoing expenses.
Additionally, after our optimizations, the client’s workflow saw significant time savings, and they were able to release their latest recipe book two months ahead of schedule.
“Uncloud Storage saved me time and money.
What more could you want!”
- (Freelance Author-Publisher)