DVD vs CD for Backup

[salyarena]

Hi,

 

I've learned here that I should not span a disk for backup, should not format the media and should not use RW media.

 

Now which is better in the long term for backup DVD or CD's. I've been told that cd's, but it would take forever to backup all my 2006 photos. I am going to backup to an external, but I want to have them also backed up on cd or dvd.

 

Is there any real advantage of cd over dvd for backup?

 

Thank you,

 

Gloria

[lynn98109]

Thanks, Lynn and James for your fast responses!

 

I think what I'll do is just make two copies of dvd's. CD will be too much of a chore and I am copying to an external too, so I guess I would be covered.

 

There's no difference, if I create the first dvd and then just copy it to another dvd, no?

 

Today in Puerto Rico, it's Three Kings Day, so we are still celebrating Christmas!

 

Happy Three Kings Day and thank you :-)

 

Gloria

If you make DVD Data discs with Classic Creator, it would probably take a similar amount of time to do a second disc relative to using Disc Copier - and if they are both originals, no copy errors would be transmitted to the subsequent copies.

 

Of course, we all believe our discs don't hav any but that isn't always true.

 

Puerto Rico - aha - es para eso su nombre salyarena - circa la mar.

 

Lynn

[lynn98109]

I've seen comments that DVD recordable media is more fragile, despite the fact the recording layer is covered with plastic (unlike CDs) - it makes sense, because the pits and lands on DVD are far smaller, and the spiral is far narrower.

 

You could try making at least two DVDs, check to be sure they read ok, and storing them separately. Or a DVD and a set of CDs, stored separately.

 

Unfortunately, the only PRECISE answer is the one that comes after the media is unreadable - and then it's too late

 

Lynn

[james_hardin]

Coin toss!

 

All the theoretical insights are meaningless as only time will tell… I have been pleasantly surprised by the durability of my DVD RW media. I use for testing different things and keep track of the writes and erases. My CD-RWs generally failed around the 50 mark whereas my DVD RW media is still going after 100.

 

I have archives on both DVD R and CD-R media and in the case of data that is irreplaceable, I have it on multiple copies of both!

[salyarena]

Thanks, Lynn and James for your fast responses!

 

I think what I'll do is just make two copies of dvd's. CD will be too much of a chore and I am copying to an external too, so I guess I would be covered.

 

There's no difference, if I create the first dvd and then just copy it to another dvd, no?

 

Today in Puerto Rico, it's Three Kings Day, so we are still celebrating Christmas!

 

Happy Three Kings Day and thank you :-)

 

Gloria

[marlinsinger]

Thanks, Lynn and James for your fast responses!

 

I think what I'll do is just make two copies of dvd's. CD will be too much of a chore and I am copying to an external too, so I guess I would be covered.

 

There's no difference, if I create the first dvd and then just copy it to another dvd, no?

 

Today in Puerto Rico, it's Three Kings Day, so we are still celebrating Christmas!

 

Happy Three Kings Day and thank you :-)

 

Gloria

Depend on how you are doing the backup. If just making a data DVD that would be fine. if using backup software, just do the backup twice, or 3 times if you count the backup to external. That way it would be in the catalog for the backup software for all versions. Also if you use backup software, and want it for long term storage, later versions may not be compatible with your backup. An example of this is the difference between BUMP V4 and V5. The compression algorithm was changed so older backups would not restore.