Capture48 Loc: Arizona

True which is why I ALWAYS recommend off-site backups.

TheeGambler Loc: The green pastures of Northeast Texas

Just to stick my nose in here, a little support for you. I use DVDs all the time. They are very convenient for me to grab, open quickly, and use to send photos to Photoshop for processing. Then, the final piece goes to a stick that will download to all my devices and for the printers. In fact, I keep a DVD open all the time to save my daily work. Sometimes, I think people love the technical process more than taking photos. Tried an external hard drive and now there is a lawsuit because of user problems it causes. I took everything off that external hard drive and saved to DVDs. I feel much safer that I can have easy access to any photo, at anytime.. Not much for letting some cloud handle my work, either.. I like to hold those DVDs in my own hands. pablio8, it works for me.

Capture48 Loc: Arizona

You have to use what works for you, and thats fine. I teach LR, and workflows, I am a techie because I have to be to be more efficient. These days one cannot afford to simply be a photographer and not have a deep understanding of all things computer if you want to compete. I only love the tech process because it allows me more time to take more photos, or spend more time with family and friends, but not just to be a techie. In other words the processes work for me, they help make my life simpler.

For instance if I want to copy some edited RAW files to my Zenfolio folder for client review, I simply use LR to export JPG's to a ZENUP folder. Using Workflows, MAC automation and Apple script, those files are automatically copied to the correct Zenfolio folder, and client notified. There is no need for me to wait an hour while photos copy up, or draft a email to my client. This is all done automatically, and saves me a few hours in my workflow. This is the purpose of the tech stuff to serve me.

I can be faulted for wrongly assuming that most people want to save some time in their process.

carl hervol Loc: jacksonville florida

I still some old flops and they still work fine.

Jim Bob

Exactly.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

If you're serious about long-term digital archiving, the majority of current Blu-Ray writable drives will support the new Mdisc media available in 25, 50 and 100 GB sizes. Not cheap ($3-$10 per disc), but will last longer than any other recordable digital media currently available by far. The manufacturer claims that a properly stored Mdisc will last 1,000 years, and whether or not this is true, they have been extensively tested by numerous govt. agencies including DOD as has been previously mentioned on this thread. Also available in smaller (4.7GB) DVD format. They are not rewritable.

As an aside, I would not consider consumer-grade HDs to be more reliable long-term than good quality DVDs. I fact, while it's difficult to compare MTBFs for the two media types, I'd expect the opposite to be true.

Capture48 Loc: Arizona

All storage devices fail, thats why manufactures have a MTBF rating. They know it will fail, and they know approximately when. This is why we have backups. I would disagree that DVD's are better then HD however. HD's are sealed so dust cannot get in and scratch the surface like they can on a DVD. Hd's are mounted somewhere normally not loose on a shelf or drawer. Since they are generally handled less they don't get removed from sleeves or cases. Basically HD's take less abuse

The bottom line is it does not matter which is better if you only have one copy of your data, sooner or later you will be sorry for that decision.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Couldn't agree more with your last statement. A little off-topic, But in my opinion, the long-term reliability of high quality (repeat high quality) DVDs is entirely dependent on how they're handled and stored. If they're handled/stored properly, I'd wager that you'd see a longer life than the current crop of cheap, high capacity HDs (depending on manufacturer). The worst current HDs in terms of reliability (Seagate Barracuda 7200 series) have failure rates of of between 10-26% Per year depending on specific model/size and based on a large sample size, while the best are in the neighborhood of 1-2%. In the largest installation of Enterprise-class drives which I personally sold and help install - 16,600 2TB 7200 RPM SATA drives (33 PB) at a national lab, we saw an ~ failure rate of 2-3% over the first 2 years. MTBFs are essentially worthless. The typical MTBF (which is rarely published for competitive reasons because calculating methods are not standard) isn't measured - it's calculated from the manufacturer's individual component values (every chip, capacitor and resistor on the drive). It's not unusual to see numbers such as 250,000 hours, which no one believes, so we're left with large samples as the best estimate, although individual opinions are more usually based on ancecdotal experience. Your advice is a good one - keep multiple copies of your data and regenerate another when one fails.

Dan Mc Loc: NM

I dunno...color me whanky, froggy, quirky, but I really doubt I will need to view any files 10years from now...nor that I can even recall them at that time. Just sayin'....

mallen1330 Loc: Chicago western suburbs

Are you in poor health?

Dan Mc Loc: NM

Not at all...but in truth, do I need some shots I took today in ten years? (I suggest those who do may have health issues....mental health issues!)

mallen1330 Loc: Chicago western suburbs

The answer for most people is "Yes!".

If your photos are of no consequence to you, it may be true (for you), that you don't want to keep them.