IT Tips & Tricks
Data Migration Issues of Titanic Proportions
Published 19 June 2024
Sometimes, even the best-planned data migrations end in disaster, whether it’s down to just one critical screw-up or a medley of mishaps.
Let’s try something. Hold up a hand and, answering honestly, put one finger down each time you can answer “yes” to any of the following about a data migration you have been part of (or heard about): Have you seen, or heard of, a migration failing (or having to be re-started a time or two) due to human error? How about data quality issues? Inadequate planning? Technical mishaps? Security problems? Messed-up permissions (post-migration)?
How many of your fingers are still in the air?
If you have more than one or maybe two fingers still up, then you are probably new to doing large-scale data migrations.
What result do you want for your next migration? Iceberg disaster or smooth sailing?
One more question: What’s a common problem that plagues virtually every storage data migration?
Unless you are new to storage data migration (or very lucky), you know this one.
Sudden Disaster
Disasters generally seem to happen quickly. The Titanic is a case in point. It took over two years to build the 52,310-ton ship — 26 months, to be exact — and how long did it take to sink? Less than three hours from the moment it hit the iceberg. Disaster.
The definition of disaster? The Titanic: Over two years to build it. Less than three hours to sink it.
Now, to be clear, this doesn’t mean that there weren’t plenty of things that could have been done far in advance (for example, in the design of the ship and the training of its crew) that would have averted this tragic loss. But, in any process, if you go beyond a certain point without spotting and handling incomplete or inaccurate plans/actions, you become predisposed to a little-to-no-warning-time disaster.
If you’ve ever sat at your desk, deflated and frustrated — after a data migration went horribly wrong — you understand the nature of disaster.
Let’s talk about links for a second. You know, the links that break the moment you move or rename the files they point to. And then what? Well, broken links result in missing data — data that should be showing up in hundreds or thousands of files, but isn’t. Missing data results in things like downtime, mistakes, upset clients, complaining users and aggravated bosses. In other words, a disaster. The truth is that broken links could be the iceberg that sinks your next data migration.
If you’ve ever sat at your desk, deflated and frustrated — after a data migration went horribly wrong — you understand the epic nature of disaster.
Let’s talk about links for a second. You know, the links that break the moment you move or rename the files they point to. And then what? Well, broken links result in missing data — data that should be showing up in hundreds or thousands of files, but isn’t. Missing data results in things like downtime, mistakes, upset clients, complaining users and aggravated bosses. In other words, a disaster. The truth is that broken links could be the iceberg that sinks your next data migration.
Understated Urgency
If you think that’s an exaggeration, consider this: Let’s say you’re a financial institution. Let’s say you’ve been in business for decades, with a lengthy history of impeccable record-keeping. Let’s say you need to migrate some of your data to the cloud or new on-prem servers. All good, so far.
Let’s say you go ahead and perform the migration. Let’s say that after the migration, you discover that you have a ton of lost data and now both the execs and the end users are up in arms. How on earth did this happen?
What’s a common problem that plagues virtually every storage data migration?
Well, let’s say it turns out that your Excel® spreadsheets are filled with hundreds of thousands of file links. And let’s say that all those links broke during the migration, effectively forming your unwanted iceberg. Still think broken links sinking your migration sounds like an exaggeration? We assure you, it’s not.
Problems with links? Send up a flare and we'll be there. Well, technically, a phone call would
be better ...
It happened to a client who sent us an SOS. (Well, technically, it was a phone call, but we’re sticking with the maritime theme.) We fished them out of the water, helped them fix those broken links and restore their missing data before safely sending them sailing again — mercifully, this time, adequately equipped to prevent future disasters.
Don’t get us wrong. We’re not saying that broken links are the only cause of data loss. But they’re a more common cause than many people realize.
How To Set Sail for Success With LinkFixer Advanced
If you don’t want your next migration to go down in company history as an epically sad tale of shattered hopes and dreams, we need to get your linked data protected before your migration. With no missing data, no downtime and no upset execs or end users, you’ll be appreciatively remembered for a victorious blockbuster hit.
Don’t get stuck on the client we mentioned with hundreds of thousands of broken Excel links. As a world leader in link management, LinkFixer Advanced™ can pre-protect and auto-fix links in over 70 file extensions in the most popular file types.
Broken links could be the iceberg that sinks your next data migration.
Besides protecting links before a data migration, if you’ve already completed your migration and are now dealing with broken links and the missing data they cause, LinkFixer Advanced is the fastest way to repair those broken links and restore that missing data. Note: This repair function (Modify Links) supports all modern-day file types.
Visit our website for more information or to chat with us online. Alternatively, call a LinkTek Consultant at 727-442-1822 to get any questions answered.
Get your linked data protected before
your migration.
If you’re curious about how many links are contained in your data, request the free trial of LinkFixer Advanced to find out. With three different reports, you’ll have a bird’s eye view of how many links you have, where they’re located and whether they’re working or broken.
What result do you want for your next migration? Iceberg disaster or smooth sailing?
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