How many IT professionals remember PIP?  It was probably the first data migration utility, actually the precursor to any “copy” command featured in the venerable CP/M (Control Program/Monitor) operating system from Digital Research. The acronym stood for “Peripheral Interchange Program” and wasn’t even about the data. 

In some ways, not much has changed. In most of the discussions we have about migration we discuss migrating operating systems, applications and virtual machines, but seldom do we talk about the challenges and solutions surrounding large migrations of data. Yet they happen every day!

One of the products highlighted at the Dec. 6 ZeroIMPACT Migration Day event was Secure Copy, which became a Dell product with the recent acquisition of Quest Software, the leader in migration solutions.

The data sheet for Secure Copy explains that the key concern when migrating large amounts of data is to make sure that “the migrated data retains its file securities, permissions, shared folder rules and local group configurations.” All too often this is not the case, inadevertantly leaving sensitive and confidential data exposed.

Secure Copy is an automated data migration solution that easily copies files and folders, NTFS security, file shares, local users and groups and compressions settings – whether migrating to a new server, consolidating file servers or moving to a NAS/SAN solution. The automation in Secure Copy dramatically reduces the time theIT staff needs to execute, manage and report on large data migrations.  On the data sheet, the Director of IT for the Make-A-Wish Foundation is quoted as saying that his organization saves a few thousand dollars on each migration thanks to the time reduction, and the elimination of disruption to users’ activities.

Secure Copy uses multi-threaded and bandwidth-throttled architecture to speed and control the actual copy function, and it assures that source and destination match completely at the end of the process. It migrates not only the files and data, but also the “critical metadata that works behind the scenes,” including files, folders, local users and groups, NTFS permissions, printers, shares, attributes, settings, ownership, updated SID history and more.

If you’re looking for a tool to help you migrate, control, automate and report on data management, take a look at Secure Copy from Dell.