Reliable DVDs for back ups

[Mark Howells]

Hello,

This is my first post on this forum.

2 years ago, I backed up my digital images and some VHS videos onto TDK DVD's. To make them look good, I bought some labelling software and DVD sticky labels from Pressit and printed off some labels with still shots from the videos on them.

About 6 months ago, I tried to retrieve some of my images and I found that I could not read the disc. I tried all my other DVD’s and found the same problem. I had also backed up some videos and images onto Maxell DVD’s and these were fine. I found the problem to exist when i tried the DVD's on different computers too.

I have come to the conclusion that I either had used poor quality discs or maybe the ink on the DVD labels or even the adhesive on the labels had somehow affected the DVD’s.

I have 3 questions:

1. Has anyone come across this problem ?
2. Can anyone recommend a good quality DVD that is reliable ?
3. What is the difference between DVD+ and DVD- and which one is better?

Any responses would be appreciated.

Mark Howells

[Canon-Fodder!]

Re: Reliable DVDs for back ups

Hello Mark; and welcome to the forum...

Yes; I've had problems re-reading old DVDs in the past... I gave up with them long ago...

My advice to you is to ditch the DVDs and use a couple of mirrored external hard-drives... 1Tb drives today are dirt cheap, and keeping them mirrored protects against disk failure; If one fails, simply unplug it, plug another in, mirror anew, and off you go again...

[briansquibb]

Re: Reliable DVDs for back ups

I use SyncToy to keep the drives in sync. This is very fast

It is a free download from Microsoft

[Colin]

Re: Reliable DVDs for back ups

You need to buy archive quality DVD's if you want to do this and then there is no guarantee that they will survive. They cost a lot more than standard ones but are supposed to last 20 years. Have a read of this article and then go and get synctoy and a couple of external drives.

[MX5]

Re: Reliable DVDs for back ups

My images go from camera to network disk (#1). This #1 is sync-toy'd with the working disk (#2) and then to another disk (#3) which is stored in a safe. From time to time I backup to yet another disk (#4). I do backup to DVD-R (Branded ones) ... and haven't had a problem.

I'm Not Paranoid, It's Just That Everyone's Out To Delete My Images.

[DavidHollick]

Re: Reliable DVDs for back ups

Hi All,

Taiyo Yuden media can be obtained in Uk from http://www.dvdshoponline.co.uk/Taiyo-Yuden.html or several other suppliers can be found by googling "Taiyo Yuden uk"

Dave

[EOS_Jim]

Re: Reliable DVDs for back ups

Forget DVDs - I've had the problem too (no labels either)! DVDs are just too slow nowadays and the number of discs and space required to hold say 500Gb of data is quite a lot in comparison to a small relatively cheap hard drive. Buy drives in pairs and sync them if you can.

[wychegnome]

Re: Reliable DVDs for back ups

Does anyone have experience of Archival Quality (Taiyo Yuden) CDs or DVDs and can advise as to whether they live up to the claims made. If you do have such experience which brand(s) have you successfully used and are you able to point me to a reliable supplier you have used and can trust. I looked at David Hollick's link but he didn't say whether he actually bought them himself.

The reason for asking is that I need to digitise part of an archive and need to be assured that the digital copies will survive reasonably long term before anyone needs to 'refresh' the files by making new copies. DVDs (or CDs) are currently the only option possible. And high speed is less important than longer term survival.

I have noted the earlier posts and am fully aware that there is no perfect medium for storage. Hard disks of any sort fail - the maxim is not will it fail but when will it fail! Whilst I can (and do) use a 'raid' setup on my PC (I have had two hard disk failures without losing any data!) plus network attached storage units for backup, The archive may not be able to stretch to such a setup and currently has no facility to enable setup of one. As to 'external' hard drives - I've had them fail as well.

Thanks.

[Muscat]

Re: Reliable DVDs for back ups

If you have to use DVDs then as Colin has said do use high quality archive grade DVDs and I would suggest that you also make duplicates, I have used archival DVDs at work, can't remember the brand I have a feeling it may have been Verbatim, but we only kept the data for a couple of years. I would never consider using standard DVDs for anything that has to be retained as a master.

I don't know if you have considered usiing some of the USB dirves as an alternative, we have again used high quality USB drives in duplicate and recovered data without issue after 3-4 years.

[wychegnome]

Re: Reliable DVDs for back ups

The problem with using USB drives is the same as using portable hard drives. The archive concerned (Signalling Record Society) does not currently have any computing facility of its own and does not currently have space to set such up. The greatest need is to digitise some of the archive contents with the intent of reducing physical space occupied (to make room for new accessions), overcoming the problems of deterioration of paper and making parts of the archive more accessible to members of the Society. Hence the need for someting reliable and usable in member's computers if they bring them to the archive.

Are USB sticks usable on PCs and Macs?

[Colin]

Re: Reliable DVDs for back ups

USB sticks are in theory usable on both BUT a lot depends on the programme used to write the data. There is no guarantee that something written by a Mac will be readable in a PC.

With on-line storage now being available at low cost it may be worth considering this as a second back-up / archive source. I would always want control over my primary backup that is why I said second backup.