Well... they could transition the data to tape with a delay for recovering it, instead of outright deleting it.
At that point, storing it would be pretty much free no?
Regardless, they promised something, then reneged, with little to no time to handle it.
The way they handled it in terms of getting rid of the service is pretty terrible.
Also apparently it wasn't his only copy - his others were taken, and now he's about to lose the last one.
As I and others mentioned elsewhere in this discussion, there was at least a year of warning. At least I was aware of this for about a year out.
Tape is cheaper but not free. A quick search[0] quotes it at ~few $ /TB/Yr. Even if we take it at $1 due to G scale, that’s still ~$250/Y to store the archives, roughly what the customer likely paid when it was stored on immediate access media.
I agree it would have been nicer of them to store an archive after they stop paying. I disagree that they reneged on their offer - despite being disappointed that the deal ended, would I expect it to be offered forever, especially given the potential for abuse? Of course not. Frankly I’m surprised it lasted this long.
Also apparently it wasn't his only copy - his others were taken, and now he's about to lose the last one.