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Hitachi ShadowImage vs NetApp SnapMirror 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
9th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NetApp SnapMirror
Ranking in Data Replication
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Data Replication category, the mindshare of Hitachi ShadowImage is 3.6%, down from 5.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp SnapMirror is 7.3%, down from 11.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Replication Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
NetApp SnapMirror7.3%
Hitachi ShadowImage3.6%
Other89.1%
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.
LeeLee2 - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Infrastructure Engineer at Gigabit Technologies Pvt Ltd
Reliable replication has transformed disaster recovery and supports realistic dev-test environments
The best feature NetApp SnapMirror offers is block-level incremental replication, which is the foundation of everything. After the initial baseline transfer, only the changed blocks move across the wire, not entire files or volumes. In a busy storage environment, that is the difference between replication that fits in your backup window and replication that hammers your network all day. NetApp SnapMirror has positively impacted our organization by taking us from a theoretical DR capability, meaning we had a secondary site but had never fully tested a failover, to a validated, tested, documented DR process that we run quarterly, which is a fundamental change in our risk posture. Management can now say with confidence that if the primary site goes down, we recover within two hours with zero data loss on critical systems.

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 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."
"The most valuable features are its ability to handle large databases efficiently and the asynchronous replication capability."
"Previously, we were using a Windows-based file server and didn't have the high availability, replication to a secondary site, or snapshot capability, which is what we were looking for."
"Administration of Netapp Snapmirror and Netapp Storage through CLI or Oncommand manager is the best."
"The synchronous and real-time replication are the most vital features of NetApp SnapMirror"
"Data protection is a valuable feature."
"Technical support is excellent."
"The most valuable feature is the data replication tool, and there is also a lot of ability for data migration."
"The technology enables us to have a safe backup."
"The performance and stability are valuable features. It seems to fulfill all the requirements."
 

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 price needs to be improved."
"This process can get out of control sometimes and cause excessive disk utilization."
"The user interface could be simplified."
"Technical support is only available if there is a problem."
"Stability needs improvement."
"Multiple tasks in the solution are made by the command line and the GUI can be improved to perform complex tasks."
"The user interface could be simplified. They might want to have fewer options on it, to make it less complicated. There are a lot of options we never use ourselves. They're often very specialized and don't apply to us."
"It is not as efficient as it needs to be. It doesn't compress the data really well when it is forwarded to a secondary site. The download performance could be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I don't have pricing information for Hitachi ShadowImage because my manager handled it."
"It's part of the NetApp Firewall, so it's free."
"The pricing could be improved."
"SnapMirror is extremely expensive. We had a hard time adjusting to our budget. If rated on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the most expensive, I would definitely rate it ten out of ten."
"It's a highly cost-effective solution"
"The solution has monthly and yearly licensing options."
"The cost is low compared to different vendors."
"The product price is reasonable."
"The pricing can be improved."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Construction Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise10
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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp SnapMirror?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing shows that NetApp SnapMirror is licensed as part of the ONTAP Data Protection bundle, which covers both NetApp SnapMirror and SnapVault. For or...
What needs improvement with NetApp SnapMirror?
NetApp SnapMirror can be improved as the initial configuration is not simple; if you are new to NetApp and ONTAP, NetApp SnapMirror concepts take time to get right. Peering clusters, peering SVMs, ...
What is your primary use case for NetApp SnapMirror?
My main use case for NetApp SnapMirror is disaster recovery replication, primarily, as we have two data centers and NetApp SnapMirror keeps our critical data synchronized between them continuously....
 

Also Known As

No data available
SnapMirror
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

K&H, NCF, Aokang Group
University at Albany, City of Houston, Yahoo Japan, Washington Employment Security Department, DG Khan Cement Co. Ltd., AmTrust Financial Services, Sheridan College
Find out what your peers are saying about Hitachi ShadowImage vs. NetApp SnapMirror and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,806 professionals have used our research since 2012.