saichiez Loc: Beautiful Central Oregon

Most of the times, I will use a CD/DVD for temporary storage, or transport of information/files.

However, they do not meet very basic requirements for Backup or Archival purposes. They are not stable for "long term" storage.

I don't use, and never would use, and teach my computer students NOT TO USE Cd's or DVD's for archival purposes. That's even if you buy actual high quality archival disks.

To explain here would be too lengthy, so I am going to ask you to search (Yahoo or Google) the words.... CD Rot or DVD Rot.

Optical disks are starting to show signs of failure. That search will enlighten you on how using CD/DVD disks can lose your date sooner than you may think.

External Drives... Not Optical Disks, Not Jump, Thumb or Flash Drives....

External disks... Good quality and stay under Terrabyte Sizes. Terrabyte drives need a bit longer to mature... still failing at too high a rate in my opinion. Add to that, that if you lost a drive, would you want it to be one of a number of 500GB drives, or one 3 Terrabyte drive. The only way I would use a Tb drive is in a truly triple redundant storage/backup system. No Online storage unless it's a fourth form of storage.

Do a search (Yahoo or Google) on .... carbonite issues.... which is supposedly one of the best.

NOTE: 25 years consulting on PC's and PC networks and Storage Systems.

ohallboyz Loc: Boston, MA

Thanks for this. I backup to EHD's but I also have carbonite just in case!

gessman Loc: Colorado

I would like to participate in this if I may. At the risk of appearing to be self-promoting, which I'm not, I will just say that I've been here on uhh screaming about this for a year now, off and on. I started burning cd's very early, '90 or maybe a little earlier and by '95 I had failure. In the beginning, the new technology was touted as being safe for 100+ years and many of us thought cd's were indestructible, didn't put covers on them or otherwise protect them, wrote on them with about anything that would leave a mark, tossed 'em around with complete abandon, and learned the hard way that they were way more delicate than we had imagined. Well before '95 I began to experience rot on many I had taken every protective step known at the time to discs that were never taken back out of the folder after originally burned.

It has been said that there are only two kinds of computer users, 'those who have lost their data, and thos who are going to.' I still burn to cd and dvd as part of a scheme to give myself the best possible chance of recovery in case of a data disaster of some sort. I use multiple external hard drives as well, and two online storage companies, and keep copies at relatives houses, and have a bank vault. Paranoid, you ask? Not at all. One of my three sons owned a very successful data recovery company for ten years and I've seen failure of storage of every sort, crashed hard drives, rotted cds and dvds, fried raid arrays, stuck backup tapes...

It grieves me to hear of a person losing their data or images. For that reason, I would like to share that in using external hard drives, for those who may not know about it, I use a dock that permits me to have two drives docked at once in a receiver that is connected by usb with its own power source. The discs can be 'hot swapped,' or changed without shutting everything down which makes it very convenient, although I don't necessarily recommend it. I turn the dock off before changing a drive. I have several external drives and I do not let them sit in the dock and run when not in use. I have the drives cataloged and can numbered. Drives are cheap, and EZ-Dock is $15 to $30 for a single or double and it affords quick access and yet reasonably safe first line storage safety. Here's a url to some places an EZ-Dock can be bought. There are plenty of others. I'm fortunate enough to have a Micro Center nearby so I don't have to order online often. There are other docks besides EZ-Dock and all pretty much function the same. I just happen to get EZ-Dock when they first came out and am totally satisfied. One additional benefit is that if you have more than one computer, it's a fantastic way to move files around - just unplug the usb from one computer and plug it into another. I use four computers on a KLM switching harness that allows me to have only one monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and with EZ-Docks and usb, I have access to all my files from any of several drives and on any of the computers by unplugging a dock from one computer and plugging into another. The docks make it very convenient and totally portable for not much money. Below is a url to several sources for purchasing an EZ-Dock. You can google 'hard drive docks' and locate others. I have no dog in that race. You may have to copy and paste the url into a browser:
https://www.google.com/#q=ez+dock+hard+drive+docking+station&hl=en&prmd=imvns&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=WmdHUNXTOIqXrAHcoIHoAw&ved=0CKMBELMY&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=b027e5d180a15bb8&biw=1920&bih=1017

georgevedwards Loc: Essex, Maryland.

When your computer crashes or your External Hard Drive no longer works (I had 750 gigabytes of photos on 2 external hard drives that now longer work, luckily I backed up all my "moneymakers" on CD/DVD) you will thank GOD you made DVD/CD backups. Of course nothing is guaranteed, the only real safe method is to make physical prints, and even these fall apart. Online backup companies can come and go, you have no control. Anything digital is suspect, I have found just about everything I have from the late 90's no longer is compatible with todays digital systems, so many changes have been made to the systems. I got caught when Zip discs went obsolete: they were perfect, you could open a single image, work on it and resave it. PERFECT. Now with CD/DVD you save a picture and work on it but you can't resave without rewrighting a whole disc-which sucks, but it is all we have now. Computers stopped having zip disc slots. I managed to find a obsolete external zip disc reader and transfered most to CD/DVD. It is all we have now. There is all kinds of art that is now lost forever, because the systems they were created on are now obsolete. Michaelangelo had it right, if you want your art to last, chisel it in marble! I used to love to create art with some early versions of Painter, a software program for digital painting. It changed companies over the years, and early versions had unique effects, like watercolor that were changed in later version, that were different. I can no longer use those effects in Painter 5 because no state of the art computer will run that program.
Sometimes I yearn for yesteryear before computers. I love the possibilities of modern science, but I think I was happier then. Creative art has taken a hit. Nowadays, "Artist" referes to a musician. Like, "Your favorite artists" means your favorite musical group/s.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

At my age, I am sure my DVD/CDs will out last me. I have a neat SATA power push button system that only cost about $30 when I bought it deals with the power to 4 hard drives. (from Ebay, ORICO) There is a W7 backup drive sitting idle, just in case my workhorse dies. Of the 4 HDs one is my old XP, one a photo/documents secondary storage archive.

georgevedwards said "Sometimes I yearn for yesteryear before computers. I love the possibilities of modern science, but I think I was happier then. Creative art has taken a hit. Nowadays, "Artist" referes to a musician. Like, "Your favorite artists" means your favorite musical group/s."

George, I am confused, Why is it that I have less time now that the technical world has saved me so much time? Is my time stored somewhere drawing interest, or did I lose all that saved time in a Time Bank failure....

And also confusing is that paperless society. I buy printer paper by the reme, gloss paper, mat paper by 100s, towelsowells, and toilet paper by pack of 8... (although I did bidet attachmentachemt to reduce toilet paper and to put out fires caused by Mexican food. Way down bad enough, but the way out: OUCH!!)