backing up on to DVD

I always use Verbatim for my CDs and DVDs.
I have never had a coaster as yet.

When backing up images to DVD/CD I always using Nero Burning Rom software and select "Multi-session" which means you can add more stuff as and when you want until the disc is full. Once it is full then I would suggest copying all the content to another DVD/CD.
If one of those back-up copies fails (for whatever reason) you have a spare with your precious stuff on, which you can make another copy, and so on.

There are other media forms to save your work.
For Example: Hard Disc Drive, which can be as large as 1,000 Gigabites (GB) the best price for one of that size is approx £135.
You could also use a memory stick, pen drive or other media such as a SD card.
Although all these media are excellent, they can get damaged, lost or accidentally thrown away.
By far the best way to save all this hard work is by buying "web space".
Most ISP (internet service providers) provide a certain amount of web space. BT internet provide, what they call, a digital vault.
You can buy a 50 GB digital vault from BT for £4.99 a month, which includes a backup copy on their servers.
Link: http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=17135
You may never have to buy another DVD or CD again.

Hope it helps

I'm not sure how stable flash RAM is for long term storage, I don't think I would recommend its use as an archive medium.


Of course there is always the good old fasioned tape streamer, these are probably beyond the means of most of us.

Foresight was lacking a bit there then!

When I was the IT volunteer for Victim Support South Wales, I insisted on off site backup, even if it meant taking the tape home every night.

I don't need that for myself... yet.

There are a lot of images I would not want to lose, these are stored on an external hard drive and on DVD's and posted on various web pages I have. My important files can be restored in the event of a disaster at home.

needless to say they have proper off site backups now! The discs were (and as far as anyone can determine still are) in a fire proof safe.

Unfortunately no one had considered the possibility that the whole end of the building would be totally destroyed by the largest explosion in peacetime european history. Thank God no one was in there, from the pictures I saw of the interior not many would have got out alive.

sky customers now have store and share

1gb free, 10gb £2.50/m, 60gb £4.50/m,

Looks better value from what I understand BT 'vault' comes with.

http://mysky.sky.com/portal/site/skycom/tools/storeandshareinformation

Never use a memory stick for anything but temporary transfer of data. They are not safe for long term storage. Memory sticks are ment to replace the old floppies, to transfer data from one safe storage to another. And for that purpose they are excellent!

And again, unbranded cheap CDs or DVDs are not safe for long term storage. They may, as Mongoose says, be perfectly OK just after burning, but the disappointment is huge when you discover that they fail completely after some time's storage.

I'm skeptical that cheap brands are really that much worse than expensive ones. I've now tested again mine that that are more than a couple of years old and they're fine.

It may have been more a problem some years ago, but DVD disc technology has since improved and seems at a reasonable standard for cheap discs from reputable sources. The way they are stored may make a difference too.

I will continue to use them - but will redo every couple or years and will continue backuping to external hard drives as well. I might be more cautious if DVD was my only or main method of backup, but it is not. It is just a backup to the backup.

Well, there could be a reason why the well-known manufacturers won't put their names on the cheaper disks...

They sell more in total like that - by catering for all budgets. Big manufacturers do deals with companies to sell some of their stock as "own" brands. It happens with many types of goods.

Some cheap brand CD or DVD can be ok but some are a little dodgy.
It's all down to the dye they use which gives better results, some dyes have proven unreliable. This is why I always recommend Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden CDs and DVDs who use the same reliable dye, which might be G03 or G20 or other code. Some other brands might vary the dye depending on the source.
Quote:
I use many, many CDs and DVDs mostly to back up my vast music collection (mp3 format) and music video collection (mpeg format) and having used several 100's of these discs I can honestly say that I have not had a single coaster when using the Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden brands but have had a few coasters in my earlier days with other brands including Memorex and non-branded CDs and DVDs.

After all that I still say the best back-up for anyones precious digital photos is webspace, whether it's BT vault, Sky vault or something else.

First, I am only an amateur Photographer, but I do dabble in PCs to some extent.

HDD is my preferred route for any back-up, although I would not use a Terabyte HDD - too much to lose, and restore, if it goes pearshaped.

External USB caddies are available for under a fiver (EBUYER) now with 80gb IDE disks for around £25 making a useful external drive for around £30 which can be detached and put safe.

Alternately, I have recently fitted removeable drive caddies (£3.87 from Ebuyer) so I can swap drives without pulling the PC apart (once the caddy has been fitted!) - but then you need to be a bit of a computer buff.

I still use DVDs but these are only as a long stop.

Hope this helps

You could have a Terabyte HDD in your PC, and an external Terabyte HDD for backup.

(I'm half-way there already with 500 Gb in the PC, and 750 Gb in my external drive).

It wouldn't be too much to backup and restore, and can be done automatically and reliably with a program like Acronis True Image.

Monster amounts of storage like this are useful for keeping RAW files, as well as music in CD quality, etc.