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Local Vault vs. a National Records Vendor
The national vendors are competent and enormous, and for a multi-state footprint they are usually the right call. For a South Florida business the trade is different.
Bring your retention schedule. We will tell you what it actually costs to meet it.
Side by side
| Category | Intervault Media | A National Records Vendor |
|---|---|---|
| Building | 9R vault, waterproof and airtight, Category 5 rated | Typically conventional warehouse construction |
| Multi-state footprint | Florida only | Nationwide. They win clearly here |
| Who answers the phone | The facility holding your media | A national service desk |
| Retrieval time | Scheduled, plus 24/7 emergency locally | Varies by facility and service tier |
| Contract terms | Annual, negotiated directly | Long-term contracts with permanent-removal fees are common |
| Cost to leave | Collect your media | Permanent withdrawal fees are a well-known industry complaint |
| Flood-zone exposure | Hardened vault by design | Depends entirely on the specific warehouse |
Our view
The honest verdict
If you have facilities in six states, use a national vendor — the logistics alone justify it. If your risk is concentrated in South Florida, ask two questions of any vendor: what is the building rated for, and what does it cost to take the media back. Those two answers usually decide it.
Other comparisons
Air-Gapped Vault vs. Cloud-Only Backup
Cloud backup is faster, cheaper per terabyte, and easier to test. It is also reachable, and that is the whole argument.
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Vaulted Tape vs. Tape Kept On Site
You already own the tapes. The question is only where they sleep, and whether the same event can take both the systems and the backups.
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Media Vault vs. a Self-Storage Unit
It happens more than you would think — a unit down the road, a padlock, and a box of tapes. It fails on three separate grounds.
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See the vault before you decide.
Tours are private and by appointment. You will see the vault door, the man-trap entry, and the box sizes in person. No account relationship is required to visit.