ExaGrid Backup Storage

Backup storage

The copy that ransomware has no route to.

ExaGrid sits behind your backup software as the place backups land. Recent copies stay on fast disk for quick restores; the retention copies move to a tier that is never presented to your network at all.

Compare all backup options

Works behind Veeam Non-network-facing tier Retention Time-Lock Deduplication Scale by appliance

How it is built

Two tiers, and only one of them is reachable.

This is the whole idea, and it is worth understanding before comparing it to anything else. The separation is architectural — not a permission setting that a stolen administrator account can change.

Network facing

Landing Zone

Your backup software writes here, in its most recent and complete form. Because the data is not deduplicated at rest in this tier, restores and verification run at full disk speed — you are not waiting on rehydration to get a server back.

Data crosses internally only — no share, no mount, no route in

Not network facing

Repository Tier

Deduplicated long-term retention, held behind the appliance rather than published to your network. There is no share to map and no protocol to attack, so a compromised server has no path to the retention copies. Deletions are held under Retention Time-Lock for a configured period, so even a deliberate delete request does not take effect immediately.

To be precise about what this is: the protection here is architectural separation plus delayed deletion, not write-once storage. It defeats the attack that actually happens — ransomware reaching the backups through the network — which is a different guarantee from object-lock, and we would rather tell you which one you are buying.

Why customers add it

Three problems it solves at once.

Backups you cannot lose

The retention tier is unreachable from the network and its deletions are time-locked, so the recovery point survives a compromise that reaches everything else.

Backup windows that stopped fitting

Data lands on disk first and is deduplicated afterwards, so ingest is not throttled by the deduplication engine and the window stops creeping into the working day.

Storage growth that outran the budget

Deduplication cuts what is actually stored for long retention, and capacity grows by adding an appliance to the system rather than replacing the one you bought.

Each appliance brings its own compute, memory and disk. That matters as you grow: adding capacity adds processing power at the same time, so the backup window does not stretch just because there is more data than there was two years ago.

Where it fits

It replaces your storage, not your backup software.

ExaGrid is a target. You keep the backup application, the jobs and the console you already know — what changes is where the data lands and how hard it becomes to destroy.

Behind Veeam

The pairing we deploy most: Veeam handles the estate and the schedules, ExaGrid provides the fast local restore point and the isolated retention copy.

Alongside an off-site copy

ExaGrid on site for speed and isolation, Azure Blob or tape for genuine geographic distance. That is a complete 3–2–1 position rather than two copies in one room.

Without replacing what works

If your backup jobs are sound and only the storage is the weak link, this is the smaller, cheaper change — and we will say so rather than proposing a rebuild.

Two ways to buy it

Installed and handed over, or run for you.

An appliance is a one-time purchase, and plenty of customers want it sized, racked, integrated with their backup software and then left with their own team.

One-time project

Supply and implementation

Sized to your retention, installed, integrated behind your backup software, and proven.

Capacity sizing against your retention policy and change rate
Appliance supply, rack and network configuration
Integration behind Veeam or your existing backup software
Retention Time-Lock configured to your policy
A restore proven from the retention tier, and documented

Afterwards

Yours to operate, with vendor support in place. We are available for changes and expansion without a retainer.

Optional, ongoing

Managed service

We watch the appliance and, more importantly, keep proving that the isolated copy still restores.

Appliance health and capacity monitoring
Scheduled restores from the retention tier, documented
Dedup ratio and backup window reviewed as data grows
Firmware and vendor support lifecycle managed
Capacity forecasting before you run out, not after

Delivered under

GigaExtendYou have an IT team GigaManaged ITWe run all of IT

Backup and DR management already sits inside GigaExtend, so if you are on that plan the storage tier folds into what you already have rather than becoming another line item.

Questions we get asked

ExaGrid, answered plainly.

Is this the same as immutable backup?

No, and the difference is worth knowing. Immutable normally means write-once storage or object-lock, where data cannot be altered or deleted before expiry as a property of the storage itself. ExaGrid's protection is architectural — the retention tier is not presented to the network — combined with time-locked deletion. In practice it defeats the ransomware attack that actually occurs. But if you have a regulatory retention requirement that specifically demands write-once media, tell us, because that is a different control and we would pair this with object-lock on object storage to satisfy it.

Do we have to change our backup software?

No. ExaGrid is a storage target and sits behind the backup application you already run. Most of our deployments are behind Veeam, but the appliance does not care which product is writing to it.

Is it a replacement for an off-site copy?

No, and we would not position it as one. It is on your premises, so a fire or flood takes it with everything else. It protects you against the network-borne attack; distance protects you against the physical event. You need both, which is why we usually pair it with Azure Blob or tape.

What happens when we outgrow it?

Capacity is added by putting another appliance into the same system rather than by replacing the existing one, and since each appliance brings its own compute and disk, throughput scales with capacity. There is no forklift upgrade at the point where the first unit fills.

How do we know the retention copies are actually good?

On implementation we prove a restore from the retention tier before handover and document it, so you start from a tested position. Keeping that true over time — scheduled restores from the retention tier, documented each time — is part of the optional managed service under GigaExtend or GigaManaged IT. If you run it yourself, we will show your team how to test it.

New to this and not sure where storage fits? Start with the backup solutions overview — it sets ExaGrid against Veeam and Acronis and shows which situation calls for which.

Would your backups survive an attacker with domain admin?

We will look at where your backup copies live today, what could reach them, and whether the retention copies would still be there afterwards.

Contact our team