Dear Bob ... Wow, what an empowering statement - to stop worrying about storage management since it's so cheap to just keep adding storage. And that's an easy policy to follow since that's basically all we have time for anyway - get bigger disks, and keep growing the SAN. But there's that brass ring out there that the users want everything electronically. And we keep saying "yeah, you can scan things but then y Dear Bob …Wow, what an empowering statement – to stop worrying about storage management since it’s so cheap to just keep adding storage. And that’s an easy policy to follow since that’s basically all we have time for anyway – get bigger disks, and keep growing the SAN.But there’s that brass ring out there that the users want everything electronically. And we keep saying “yeah, you can scan things but then you have to name them and store them so you can find them again…” which is what “management” is all about. Plus, hearing about in-line, near-term, and archive storage…oooo such goodies! They’ll make the user’s lives better! They’ll make IT’s lives better (include syrupy chirpy voice here)….. and then there’s that other word ‘disaster recovery’ (sorry 2 words) or the buzz word(s) Business Continuity – how do you possibly recover all that data that no one is using anyway in any reasonable amount of time?And… since it’s not …. uh er um …managed – we don’t know what’s a priority to recover (other than then the major systems). – Paying for storageDear Paying …This is why I was careful to ask it as a question. But a point: If we don’t add the storage, all that happens is that users either (a) move the data to their un-backed-up C: drives or (b) print it out and stuff the far more expensive paper into their un-backed-up file drawers.I’m left with the conclusion that IT should provide two classes of storage. One is expensive, limited, and well-protected, the other managed as “electronic paper..” The latter isn’t entirely at risk, of course – it should be provisioned as RAID level something useful (maybe 3?). Even better, users should be taught to store data in offline folders so everything is mirroredbetween their local hard drives and the central store. But IT doesn’t provide a recovery service for this class of storage as it does for the more expensive class.I know it isn’t perfect … nothing is, of course … but it sure seems superior to the alternatives.I think? – Bob ——– Technology Industry