Nearline storage

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nearline storage (where Nearline is a contraction of Near-online) is a term used in computer science to describe an intermediate type of data storage. It is a compromise between online storage (constant, very rapid access to data) and offline storage (infrequent access for backup purposes or long-term storage). It is called so because the storage system knows on which volume (cartridge) the data is, and usually asks a robot to retrieve it from his physical location (usually: a tape library) and put it into a tape drive to access it and thus bring the data it contains online. This process is not instantaneous, but it only does require a few seconds, hence the initial description.

The term NEARLINE, in stylized form or as a typed drawing, is a registered word mark (trademark) of the Storage Technology Corp (now STORAGETEK, recently acquired by Sun Microsystems). (United State Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark Electronic Search System(TESS))