Recordable DVD's

[Lory]

I stood in the shop for ages today, deliberating which recordable DVD's to buy, to back up my data, photo's, music and videos etc

The prices seem to vary wildly, even though they appear to have the same spec.

So, is there genuinely any difference?

Secondly, I'm also confused about the + or - R, to my relief, I guessed + and they are the same as the one's I've used before, which I know work on my Mac, PC and my DVD player. So does that mean that the -R wouldn't have?

Speed? The ones I've got today are 16x but just looking, the ones I had last time were 8x and they recorded pretty fast. Will the 16x record twice as fast?

I'd really like to know, as each time I buy any at the moment, I seem to have been lucky but its been a pure stab in the dark!

[Dreadful Scathe]

quickly :

bought branded discs will be better. +r is arguably better than -r but most drives will handle both. 8x and 16x are indeed speed but as burning is not something you tend to sit and watch (like a kettle boiling) will that matter much? speed is also subject to the capabilities of the drive you put it in.

[Lory]

bought branded discs will be better

Hmm, OK so which ones are 'the BEST'

As I want/need these backups to last forever. :flower:

[Andy Razzle]

I usually find -R better! Ive got ASDAs own brand at the moment and they seem good, speed is not a big issue

[Lory]

I usually find -R better! Ive got ASDAs own brand at the moment and they seem good, speed is not a big issue

Better, in what way?

[Andy Razzle]

when I use them for DVD recorders I usually get more faulty burns compared to -R. Although brands do differ and there are lots of different ones.

[Andy Razzle]

(just checked asda discs and they are +R !)

[Gav]

As I want/need these backups to last forever. :flower:

You don't want much do you? :rolleyes:

[Dreadful Scathe]

Hmm, OK so which ones are 'the BEST'

As I want/need these backups to last forever. :flower:

neither, DVD-RAM is your format of choice for data backup, not so good for anything else thoug. (read the entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-RAM)).

But you dont have DVD-RAM drives i imagine so back to + and -. I said +r is arguably better than -r because it is : but there is little in it, little enough that good quality branded disks and compatibility with the drives you are using are a far more important concern.

so BEST = best quality brand : ignore the + or -

like these (http://www.dvdshoponline.co.uk/Taiyo-Yuden.html)

[t0mt0m]

Hmm, OK so which ones are 'the BEST'

As I want/need these backups to last forever. :flower:

Backup - 2 different media, 2 different places. I wouldn't trust just putting your sole backup on a DVD. Scratches, slightly misburnt disc, and you'll be in tears.

If the information is important enough for you (give it a quick monetary cost as to how much you'd pay to get it back if you lost it), whack it at least on a cheap small external hard drive as a 2nd backup. (HD fail, DVD fail - it's not if, but when). Sucks to make 2 backups, but it's even more painful losing precious data...

:) (I always used -R but having had issues with DVD, usually make a HD backup, and considering using a Mozy/BackBlaze online backup system too).

[EricD]

so BEST = best quality brand : ignore the + or -

like these (http://www.dvdshoponline.co.uk/Taiyo-Yuden.html)

You used to be able to find "Taiyo Yuden" (best-quality) dye in Verbatim DVDs. I think they were only the 'Made in Japan' ones, not China, India or Indonesia and had a distinctive-shaped case as in your link.

Info from hotukdeals.com (http://www.google.co.uk/search?&q=Taiyo+Yuden#sclient=psy&hl=en&source=hp&q=verbatim+%22Taiyo+Yuden%22+site:hotukdeals.com) ...

[David Franklin]

Hmm, OK so which ones are 'the BEST'

As I want/need these backups to last forever. :flower:Nothing lasts for ever.

To be honest, I'm not sure I would ever use DVDs as true backup. Their main advantage is they are cheap and easy to send by post, but there's a lot of debate about how long the inks will last, and they are a lot less scratch resistant than CDs. Unless you only want to back up 1-2 dvds worth, managing the disks is a pain in itself too.

For most circumstances, I'd just buy a couple of cheap external hard drives (two for redundancy).

[philsmove]

Here is one idea

http://www.dropbox.com/

but I have to confess to also backing up to 3 separate external hard dives
one on which I keep in fire safe

[bigdjiver]

Hmm, OK so which ones are 'the BEST'

As I want/need these backups to last forever. :flower:Kodak do 100 years archival DMD (I believe the M stands for metallised) disks compatible with DVD+R and -R recorders. I bought mine from Poundland :-s

[Dreadful Scathe]

Kodak do 100 years archival DMD (I believe the M stands for metallised) disks compatible with DVD+R and -R recorders. I bought mine from Poundland :-s
I had never heard of this, so i looked up DMD, which, on wikipedia here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Multilayer_Disk),suggested they were a new 100gb transparent storage format like the discs in the film "minority report" - which would be cool to say the least. But further searching shows a defunct home page for the company and this article from 2004 (http://www.d-silence.com/headlines/15GB%20HD%20Movie%20Disk/18157) - so that technology may be dead in the water. Transparent discs would be so cool - damn!

but the 2nd result, clearly what bigdjiver is talking about, was this (http://www.tetenaluk.com/shop/kodak-gold-archival-digital-mastering-disc-spindle.html) which sounds great too, I'm going to get some and try them for sure. cheers bigdjiver :)

[David Franklin]

Here is one idea

http://www.dropbox.com/

but I have to confess to also backing up to 3 separate external hard dives
one on which I keep in fire safeI don't have personal knowledge, but I often see the following warning about storing data in fire safes:

Fire safes typically aim at keeping the temperature low enough that paper doesn't ignite (~451 Fahrenheit if you believe Ray Bradbury). In general, data storage devices stop working at much lower temperatures.

[RedFox]

The main problem with DVDs is the limited capacity. Personally I moved to Blu-ray so that I don't need to keep feeding in disks.

As for the best ones, look for gold again, such as these: http://www.photographyblog.com/news/delkin_archival_gold_blu_ray_discs/ - though they are 10x the price of gold DVDs. Or make do with regular versions...

[RedFox]

...I want/need these backups to last forever. :flower:

The limiting factor is more likely to technology change, rather than the life of the disk. If you'd safely backed up your data to floppy disk 10 years ago, I wonder whether you still have a floppy disk drive to retrieve the information?

http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/dpm/dpm-eng/oldmedia/index.html