Technical > Photos of Broadband gear > Inside a Google Data Center

Inside a Google Data Center

Very interesting!

I was impressed with their hard disk destruction methods. If they do it that way everywhere, then there shouldn't be worries about someone hijacking data from leftover disk drives.

In the wake of recent events, this video left unanswered what safeguards are in place to protect against 9.0+ earthquake, EF5 tornado, or tsunami. Surely, the data center is not located in a zone free of all these natural forces.

My thinking is that it is easier and less costly to provide redundant data center locations rather than spending the money to try to protect against those types of disasters. Google has numerous data centers scattered all over (including one in The Dalles, OR not too far from me) so the likelihood of more than one being simultaneously affected by a natural disaster is pretty small.

yep I think thats google's way

why buy 100 top notch servers that you need to worry about when you can get 50,000 dirt cheap ones (assuming thy're still using the small cheap computers) that you won't mind missing a few

and by that same thought why build 1 top notch Tsunami, 9.0+, Tornado proof data center when you can build 10,000 that you won't mind losing a few hundred of

so with the school of thought that google uses they're able to spread out and minimize the effect that any natural disasters and if they lose a few they're able to replace them fairly easily