[geeks] Best media for personal long-term backup?

[Shannon Hendrix]

On Feb 27, 2009, at 16:55 , nate at portents.com wrote:

>> Taiyo Yuden DVD+R.
>>
>> The DVD+R format has error-correction vastly superior to DVD-R, and
>> Taiyo Yuden have a reputation for producing the best archival-quality
>> DVD+R media.  Expect to pay 4x - 5x what you'd pay for your local
>> electronics store's discount media brand.
>
> Yes, I'm familiar with the claimed advantages of +R media and the  
> brand,
> but how much better is it *really* than good quality Verbatim media  
> for
> instance?

It is a lot better, and people have tested it pretty extensively.  DVD 
+R and DVD-R have been extensively compared and there is no contest  
here: +R is superior to the point it is worth paying twice as much if  
you have to.

It's not just added error handling, the signal strength you get from  
+R is a lot more consistent and powerful.  You can actually get DVD  
drives that can measure that, but I think they are expensive.  Some  
guys test various media and post the results, and +R always wins.

Go further and actually test aging and damage, and -R falls pretty  
flat, unable to recover from fairly normal kinds of damage, and poor  
burns.

Of course, understand that I think all CD and DVD media sucks, and for  
that matter, so does HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.

Personally I wish I could afford tape.

DVD is far too small, and the burn process sucks.  Blu-Ray is little  
better, offering insufficient increased capacity and the same  
inconvenient and unreliable burn process, and the media is expensive.

>> The other downside is media capacity.  To approach DVD levels of  
>> capacity,
>> you'll need to chunk $2000 or so at a MO drive.
>
> Yeah new they are expensive, but I've seen some of the older MO  
> drives on
> ebay for under $200 though (used), and I've been wondering if I  
> could find
> a deal on a drive that way.

The media is what killed me the last time I used MO.  Even heavily  
discounted it was a lot.


-- 
Shannon Hendrix
shannon at widomaker.com