Sooo, I wanted to back up my DRM free games to physical medium, but I ended up over-thinking it. What I wanted to achieve is to have nice organized library of DRM free PC games, that would look good on shelf (I have HDD backup already). Something that would look like . <span class="bold">Why? [url=https://www.gog.com/forum/general/gog_games_backup_collection_sd_vs_cddvdbd/post21]This is why. I was thinking about what medium to use, and never got beyond that point. The ultimate battle is between SD cards, and RW normal sized CDs, DVDs and BDs, but I included RW mini discs because I like the look of them.

In the past I was using CDs and DVDs to burn my games, but I didn't like the fact that once they are burned, they stay that way for good. Nowadays games can be updated after being dormant for many years, so natural transition was to go to RW discs. But that got me thinking, is there maybe an alternative.

Here are the requirements for my library medium:
- medium must be rewritable
- I must be able to print, light-scribe, or put a sticker on medium I use (I want nice picture of featured game on it's medium)
- It has to have some kind of protective case, preferably case can have game title on the side, that would be visible while on the shelf
- medium and it's case must be mass market and widely available (either through normal distribution or ebay/aliexpress)

So after a lot of thinking time invested, here are the options I am thinking about with their pros and cons.

Normal sized RW CD/DVD/BD:
pros:
- nice jewel case (normal sized, I really like that title on the side)
- many different options on the same size format (CDs, DVDs BDs)

cons:
- burning procedure is kind of tiresome

SD cards:
pros:
- easy to write and re-write data
- small
cons:
- no cool looking protective case
- expensive in comparison to other mediums

Mini CDs DVDs BDs:
pros:
- I like the size of mini disks, way, way more then normal discs

cons:
- I cannot find normal sized jewel case (one that can have a title on the side) for mini discs for affordable price
- mini BDs are very rare and expensive (and only for camcorders?)
- burning procedure is kind of tiresome

I almost gave up on mini discs, but I really like their size, and look overall. With pure aesthetics in mind, I would have my collection on mini discs over other mediums in a heartbeat. Maybe I am using wrong terms to search for cases and/or mini BDs (if so, throw some links at me). If I choose normal sized discs, maybe I will mix them with mini discs. SD cards are most practical but most expensive too, and I also cannot seem to find some jewel like case (I found [url=http://img.weiku.com/waterpicture/2011/6/3/19/15mm_game_SD_card_case_634433854987821125_3.jpg]pictures, but nothing like that to purchase anywhere) . I also like the fact that SD cards would look like mini game cartridges.

I would like to know what do you think, what medium should I use, would you use, or you do use? I am open to suggestions.

Also if you have nice organized backup collection of your games throw some pictures, I would like to see that to get some ideas.

Buy 3TB HDD and put every thing in it.
Although only windows games won't take more than 1.5 TB, yet I would say to back up extras, mods, Linux and Mac versions too.

For your shelf buy empty boxes with game covers on it.
That's what EA is giving to Origin games. :P

Here's a massive con for optical media in my book:

I can't recall the last time I seriously used my optical media drive. I plan to not have one in the future.

Also, what about SSDs, USB drives, and other storage mediums like tape backup?

Well, I have that, I want nice looking shelf display backup :) (like , or [url=http://img13.deviantart.net/edff/i/2008/247/f/d/video_game_collection_middle_by_xxswitchxx.jpg]this, or this)

If you gotta have a physical library, why can't you just toss the SD card into the regular size disc case? You're looking at the labels, not the media inside.

If it weren't for the desire to display the library, I'd second amrit's suggestion - big ass hard drive. Or put that stuff on the hard drive and tuck it away, and display empty cases.

I plan to back up only DRM free games, so yeah, no steam or origin titles :P

That may look impressive, but consider the following: You have to move! Oh no! Now you have to pack away those thousands of games and decide on a transport method. After all, you can only cram so much of them into the back of your vehicle of choice, and there's tons of stuff that takes priority over it.

If there's a fire, break in, or other disaster, well you can kiss thousands to millions of dollars goodbye, unlike with a digital storefront, where as long as you have your login credentials, you can access your games. Heck, with the right kind of virtual storage, even that isn't a worry. I second the idea of empty cases. Or you could even print up some fake boxes as you've clearly got some disposable income here.

I don't know what kind of income do you think I have, or why do you have a need to comment it, but since you did, let's clarify. I like to build and create stuff, I like the sense of achievement when I do something myself. This would be a project of mine that would take some time.

Every label would be designed, printed on a home printer, and cut by myself. I do not have thousands of games (I have 211 games here on GOG to be precise), nor do I intent to spend thousands, not to mention millions of dollars on this project. You can get 100 blank DVD's for as low as 20 buck or even less, cases to. And I don't even intent to do it all at once. So, what's with the attitude?

Normal CDs deteriorate much faster than people seem to think. Faulty bits may show up already after three years.

About costs: In some places on our Earth, living space is very, very dear totally dwarving the peanuts some shelf and cases cost.

I did not know that, reading some articles on that topic now, thanks. True, but we are talking about that on web site where some games cost much more than 100 CD/DVD cases, so, it seems a bit out of place... also it hit my nerve, sorry for that.

Yeah I think the way to go if you don't want to lose quality of the file in any digital medium: games, music, movies etc is a server/MicroServer. Something like this with a couple of hdd's inside

I did something similar. It was a fun project. But given my need to "collect" games the space got quickly out of hand. The need for more shelving, the costs associated with buying cases and the printings costs - holy hell. If I had an entire basement and lived alone then I may have continued this route. But as life goes on, things change, priorities change.

In the end, I tossed all the cases and covers and stored my discs in these wonderful containers. Two towers stacked do the job quite well and they can be easily relocated and allows for easy expansion as your collection grows.

But the cheapest route is to burn to CDs/DVDs. But as others have said, over time, they degrade. Also, optical drives are becoming less popular. However, since you have your HD digital back up, you're safe.

The more expensive, stable route would be the memory cards inside the cases.

Maybe Gamecube game boxes for the mini disks on the shelf.

Sounds to me like USB drives may be your best bet. Depending on the style you go for you can label them directly or even theme them according to the game, and finally present them nicely in DVD/jewel-style cases (something like these).

Not to mention they're incredibly reliable when you don't need to rewrite the data a lot, more broadly supported than SD cards, and more future proof than optical media which are becoming increasingly obsolete.

Another vote for empty boxes. As games will get updates you will need to spend much time, effort and money to keep your library updated. Hard drives are really the cheapest and easiest way to backup your data.

If you don't like empty cases, maybe consider to put something else inside. As example just the manuals, guides or the gog gamepage. Or maybe something more personal. like your own review or your gaming diary with screenshots. To put something inside you will very likely never use and so never see is in my eyes kind of sad.