I'm lost, isnt a permanent backup an archive? Whats the point of doing the "backup" you guys are talking about, temporary or permanent?
yes, hard drives are better than ever but they are never going to aproach the simple reliability of a properly burned high quality (i.e. namebrand) optical disk. That's obvious. Secondly, someone mentioned portability. If you carry a hard drive around long enough sooner or later youre going to drop/impact it. That sounds like a long term prescription for disaster if the intent is an archive because a carry around hard drive is not as safe as one in a desktop tower that's for sure. If you drop a jewelcased/spindle/sleeved of CDs or DVDs you just pick them up and get back in business, not so with a delicate hard drive in most cases... jco -----Original Message----- From: Shel Belinkoff [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, January 02, 2006 4:35 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: DVDs I said nothing about using a hard drive for permanent storage, just for backup. I also said that for some files a DVD would be a good idea. I don't believe that DVD's and CD's are necessarily archival, but then I don't believe that an external hard drive that is used only for backup is particularly susceptible to catastrophic failure. Current hard disks are pretty solid, IMO, and with proper disk maintenance - checking for and excluding bad sectors, for example - an external hard drive should last a long time and do its job capably and easily. Shel > [Original Message] > From: J. C. O'Connell > I don't get it, wouldn't a hard drive be far more > susceptible to a catostrophic failure than a bunch > of DVD disks? Im sure its more user friendly, but > is it archival? > jco > > -----Original Message----- > From: Shel Belinkoff [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, January 02, 2006 11:37 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: DVDs > > > There are probably other things on your computer that have value > besides just photos. > > There are plenty of inexpensive external hard drives available for > storage and backup. LaCie has a few, and NewEgg lists numerous drives > as well. > > An external hard drive is, imo, an excellent choice for backing up > your work. And they are pretty affordable these days compared to even > a year ago. > However, it might still be nice to have some things on DVD. When I > get a few extra $$, I'll be opting for a large capacity external hard > drive. L
