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einarabelc5: I've never met a Systems administrator that prefers DVDs over other media( Tapes, HDDs) for backup purposes.
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Kleetus: System admins have totally different preferences and requirements to a home user.
Which should tell you something. If you stop and think
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einarabelc5: THERE IS SIMPLY NO JUSTIFICATION TO USE DVDs over HDDs as a backup media.
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Lou: $$ - Less than 1.00 for 3 DVD's is way cheaper than the initial cost of that hard drive.

I also have been backing up to CD and DVD for double digit years and have yet to encounter
any issues as long as you take care of the discs. I have had more hard drive failures duing that time frame.
You're posting your preferences, except for the hard drive failures. I've posted how my experience convinced me otherwise. That could be solved by knowing your brand and doing some research on HDDS. In my own experience I hardly ever have hard drive failures. Also the cost of DVDs to HDDs ratio has significantly reduced in my own experience, due to a country move. That particular issue might make my opinion invalid except that:

Talking in general for any savvy computer user backup is obvious. But people in general don't do it. If you want to make system backups, software backups,etc you don't use DVDs. You create an image of your disks. Both major O/S competitors on the market Windows and Mac offer tools that assume directly that you have a backup hard drive. What does that tell you?
In the end a game is nothing more than something else to backup and that initial cost is wayy paid for in the medium term.
Post edited August 24, 2011 by einarabelc5
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einarabelc5: Both major O/S competitors on the market Windows and Mac offer tools that assume directly that you have a backup hard drive. What does that tell you?
What, it assumes nothing, it offers all options.

Windows offers a system backup to DVD.

It also offers a System Repair Disc to DVD only.

What does that tell you?
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Kleetus: :) I've never seen that "feature".

Your wife sounds like she'd love the BSoD screensaver.
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einarabelc5: On my personal experience backing up in optical media as a primary source is both a hassle and a shot in the foot. FOR RESTORE REASONS. Here's why.
1: All the reasons posted so far with the different software suites WinRar, ImageBurner, etc.
2: Optical media is very exposed to environment changes: climate, fungi, your dog, bugs, your kids, etc.
3: Optical media is very prone to errors and dependent on optical drives. If it gets dirty it won't read on some drives. There are different levels of dirty a drive can handle. You have to handle it with care. You have to clean it. And the list goes on.
4: Speed, Optical Media is Slow. Period.
Take it from someone who was backing up on CDs and DVDs for 15 years.

In reality what you have to think about is not only how are you going to backup your data but HOW ARE YOU GOING TO RESTORE IT and HOW SAFE YOUR DATA WILL BE ON THE BACKUP.

It used to be by the time all this software was developed the price per Megabyte on Hard drives didn't justify switching over to HDD back up but today THERE IS SIMPLY NO JUSTIFICATION TO USE DVDs over HDDs as a backup media.

When I downloaded TW2 I had an internal harddrive mounted on a Thermaltake SATA docking station. It took me 5 minutes to backup the entire game. No more than 60 bucks, the price of the game to have that available.
Like this:

Select, Drag, Drop, Wait.

If I need to I create a backup of a backup and I'm good to go.

I've never met a Systems administrator that prefers DVDs over other media( Tapes, HDDs) for backup purposes.
Well, the reason I had this question is because on my 3mbps connection, it took me forever to redownload the Witcher 2 from GoG.com after my hard drive randomly died without any indications. I had an external backup drive, but it only backed up system files and documents... I didn't know the WD Smartware software wouldn't back up EVERYTHING.
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einarabelc5: On my personal experience backing up in optical media as a primary source is both a hassle and a shot in the foot. FOR RESTORE REASONS. Here's why.
1: All the reasons posted so far with the different software suites WinRar, ImageBurner, etc.
2: Optical media is very exposed to environment changes: climate, fungi, your dog, bugs, your kids, etc.
3: Optical media is very prone to errors and dependent on optical drives. If it gets dirty it won't read on some drives. There are different levels of dirty a drive can handle. You have to handle it with care. You have to clean it. And the list goes on.
4: Speed, Optical Media is Slow. Period.
Take it from someone who was backing up on CDs and DVDs for 15 years.

In reality what you have to think about is not only how are you going to backup your data but HOW ARE YOU GOING TO RESTORE IT and HOW SAFE YOUR DATA WILL BE ON THE BACKUP.

It used to be by the time all this software was developed the price per Megabyte on Hard drives didn't justify switching over to HDD back up but today THERE IS SIMPLY NO JUSTIFICATION TO USE DVDs over HDDs as a backup media.

When I downloaded TW2 I had an internal harddrive mounted on a Thermaltake SATA docking station. It took me 5 minutes to backup the entire game. No more than 60 bucks, the price of the game to have that available.
Like this:

Select, Drag, Drop, Wait.

If I need to I create a backup of a backup and I'm good to go.

I've never met a Systems administrator that prefers DVDs over other media( Tapes, HDDs) for backup purposes.
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Nostalgic: Well, the reason I had this question is because on my 3mbps connection, it took me forever to redownload the Witcher 2 from GoG.com after my hard drive randomly died without any indications. I had an external backup drive, but it only backed up system files and documents... I didn't know the WD Smartware software wouldn't back up EVERYTHING.
Then you need to take the time to learn computing. I mean really learn to use what you have.