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Hitachi ShadowImage vs NetApp Snapshot comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 1, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Hitachi ShadowImage
Ranking in Data Replication
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NetApp Snapshot
Ranking in Data Replication
2nd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Data Replication category, the mindshare of Hitachi ShadowImage is 3.5%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp Snapshot is 5.3%, down from 12.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Replication Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
NetApp Snapshot5.3%
Hitachi ShadowImage3.5%
Other91.2%
Data Replication
 

Featured Reviews

Bratislav Petkovic - PeerSpot reviewer
Team Lead for Core Infrastructure at Raiffeisen bank Serbia
Efficient replication and helpful for improving data processing and management
The technology behind Hitachi ShadowImage has been around for a long time, and while it works correctly, it does have some issues. We have experienced problems with it, even though Hitachi provides good hardware. Technical support could also be improved, as it sometimes takes a few days to resolve issues.
Tanveer Rahman - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Technical Office at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
Snapshots have enabled us to restore critical data quickly and confidently after unexpected changes
The functions or features I have found most valuable in NetApp Snapshot are that it is easy to do and takes very little time. The main benefits that NetApp Snapshot provides for me are that if anything goes wrong, we can go back and restore something. It gives you peace of mind, which saves money, effort, and everything else. I use NetApp's WAFL architecture as it is their way of doing things, how to save the files and everything else. It is built-in. You cannot avoid WAFL when you use NetApp. Regarding the integration of NetApp Snapshot with applications and workloads, we have NetApp Snapshot integrated with our OpenStack platform.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most valuable features are its ability to handle large databases efficiently and the asynchronous replication capability."
"The most valuable feature of Hitachi ShadowImage is high-speed data transfer from one server to another. Other solutions would have problems with transferring 50 TB of data. I also like that Hitachi ShadowImage is easy to use."
"It doesn't occupy a lot of space and is very easy to use once you schedule the snapshots."
"The consistency of Snapshot is very significant."
"It centralizes your data."
"We see that deduplication and compression give us a lot of space, so space efficiency impacts our data management strategy."
"One of the best features in the industry is that data snapshots can be synchronise for database consistency."
"Compared to the traditional way we did backups, with Snapshot it takes us less time. It has improved my organization by saving us time."
"NetApp is extremely stable, no doubt about that."
"The most valuable feature of NetApp Snapshot is its ability to complete a sixty-terabyte database snapshot in less than three minutes."
 

Cons

"API and script configuration in Hitachi ShadowImage is sometimes complicated, so this is an area for improvement. Another area for improvement is that the Hitachi ShadowImage interface isn't as user-friendly."
"We have experienced problems with it, even though Hitachi provides good hardware."
"The information on this panel doesn't always give good information; sometimes, the disk space left gives wrong information, and we have to go in the SSH with the console to control this."
"NetApp needs to take a look at their pricing in comparison to the competition and make the appropriate change to attract more customers and gain in market share."
"I think the automation needs some improvement."
"We used standard backup solutions by Dell EMC. We actually preferred Dell EMC solutions."
"The initial setup process of NetApp Snapshot is not easy and needs improvement."
"The solution could include more databases and make it accessible to the DBAs. The automation process should be run in a way where it could be run from the database itself."
"The solution should have a snapshot mode using AI to decide when to create the snapshot, depending on the workload."
"The price could be improved a little bit."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I don't have pricing information for Hitachi ShadowImage because my manager handled it."
"NetApp Snapshot is expensive since you need to buy an additional premium license for it which is an extra cost over the payments made for NetApp...The license works during the entire life cycle of NetApp Snapshot."
"If there is a way to save more on the number of snapshots, it should be included in the next release."
"Snapshot is free and comes with the NetApp storage software. It's purely free of cost."
"As far as their licensing costs, the licensing is paid on a yearly basis. The organization pays for the licensing based on the software and the capacity that they choose."
"It's not too expensive."
"The price of NetApp Snapshot depends on the use case. They charge by how much data you need, the capability, and for snap licenses."
"The price of the solution is reasonable but could improve. However, if you are in a country that has a poor currency then the price will be considered expensive."
"The price of this solution is fair."
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915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
16%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise10
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Hitachi ShadowImage?
The pricing of Hitachi ShadowImage is reasonable, especially when you purchase Hitachi storage, as ShadowImage and Thin Image are part of the protector. The protector includes several components li...
What needs improvement with Hitachi ShadowImage?
The technology behind Hitachi ShadowImage has been around for a long time, and while it works correctly, it does have some issues. We have experienced problems with it, even though Hitachi provides...
What is your primary use case for Hitachi ShadowImage?
We use Hitachi ShadowImage for data replication processes. It is a practical tool for copying data from one LUN disk to another within the same storage. In our bank, we utilize it for making tests ...
What method of data replication does NetApp Snapshot use?
Here's a breakdown of how the data replication by NetApp Snapshot works: it's through the snapshot replication method. What does that mean? Well, in simple words, the software creates copies of dat...
What is the storage scale of NetApp Snapshot?
Last time I checked, the NetApp Snapshot data replication software could go up to 255 snapshot copies. I'm not sure how familiar you are with similar software, but that's a pretty good number. It g...
Will NetApp Snapshot recover data in an emergency?
Well yes, the snapshots that NetApp Snapshot creates are your backup. But then there's also their feature for advanced backup. This allows you to copy backups to offline locations and also make arc...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

K&H, NCF, Aokang Group
Mazda
Find out what your peers are saying about Hitachi ShadowImage vs. NetApp Snapshot and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.