Best to use DVD burner,CD-RW, or HD for data storage?

[K5B7]

My only PC is a Dell Inspiron 8100 laptop which has been almost nothing but trouble from the time I bought it. Even with its replaced hard drive and video driver and bios updates, it continually experiences screen freezes and lockups. XP Professional had to be reinstalled in another partition after the first OS installation wouldn't boot up, so that I wouldn't lose my valuable data with a debugging and reformatting of the drive. At least the computer is usable between crashes now, but I want to save a lot of data, up to 15-20 Gigabytes worth, before I debug and reformat, or send the laptop to Dell and try again to persuade them to replace the system.

I am considering getting a Sony DRU-500A or another DVD burner to back up data (documents, email, pictures, mp3s, etc.). This would put the data on fewer disks than if I use the internal CD-RW. However, I am considering several options and wish to know which is best (for all of these, I would use a USB2 card in the laptop to give true USB2 speed instead of the built-in USB, or the Firewire port):

1) Internal multiformat Sony DRU-500A if I can put it in an external case/kit for use with the laptop now, then convert back for internal application in case I later get a desktop PC.

2) Internal or external DVD-R or DVD+R (maybe CenDyne or Plextor, etc.) used in the same way as option (1) instead of the Sony DRU-500A for less cost.

3) CenDyne Arsion USB 2.0 Portable CD Rewritable Drive, 40X12X40, very highly rated here - or an external Plextor CD-RW - using either CD-R or CD-RW media.

4) External USB2 or Firewire hard drive (60GB, 80GB, or more)

I am under the impression that option (3) would be faster than a DVD burner, but would require many more disks. I haven't decided when I will get a desktop PC (the main incentives would be better CAD, gaming, and video performance), but an internal DVD burner might be a wise option if it could be converted to external use for now, since the external DVD burner couldn't later be converted to internal. Can someone recommend a particular external case for the Sony DRU-500A, and where to buy it?

If anyone can give me wise counsel for choosing the best way(s) to save my data, I would really appreciate it. Are they all nearly equally advisable?

Thank you

[aznsound]

in my opinion, DVD's are the best backup's... CD-R's are fine until my picture folder went to 1.5 gigs... i use my computer mostly for play, and so the most important data i have in it are pictures taken with digital camera... i can replace programs and music, but there is no way to replace pictures... of course there are still the stuff (mp3's, programs etc.) that i would rather have a backup of incase the computer crashes... and it's so much easy to backup all the stuff in a DVD... of course it's still not as easy as a second hard drive, but i think that all a second hard drive does is reduce down time incase a computer crashes... it's not my idea of long term backup (long term to me is about 1-2 years)... partitioning the drive like you have it now is more safer than with only one partition, but don't think that your data is completly safe with that kind of structure... i've lost data one time even with 2 partitions...

[TheWizard]

The cheapest, easiest, and fastest way to backup data is still with a second hard drive. Although, CDRLabs would not exist if it weren't for CD-RW drives originally and then DVD-R/+R drives.

[cfitz]

The cheapest, easiest, and fastest way to backup data is still with a second hard drive. Although, CDRLabs would not exist if it weren't for CD-RW drives originally and then DVD-R/+R drives.

Fastest? No doubt.

Easiest? You could make a good argument for that.

Cheapest? More debatable.

Let’s pick some round numbers for argument's sake:
80 GByte hard drive for $80 = 0.1 cents per MByte
50-pack spindle of 700 MByte CD-R for $10 = 0.03 cents per MByte

But what about the cost of the CD-RW drive? Okay, let's assume a $40 drive will last for only 500 discs. Then the amortized cost per disc = 8 cents per disc, or 0.01 cents per MByte, for a total CD-RW cost of 0.04 cents per MByte.

So, on raw cost the CD-R wins. However, if you have to factor in the cost of your time, the hard disc probably wins.

Most secure? Not unless you take special precautions. If you keep both drives in the same computer, you are leaving yourself open to a power supply failure trashing both at once. Also, hard drives are susceptible to the "delete *.*" phenomenon, which CD-R's, by their nature, are not. And if you are being really careful you will have to buy a third hard drive so that you can keep your backups off site. Of course, this means you will have to be swapping hard drives in and out on a regular basis, so you will probably want to buy removable media drives with their attendant extra expense.

Longevity? Here I am just speculating, but I would think that CD-R media has the edge here, just based on general optical versus magnetic reading I have done in the past.

So, like everything, there are no easy answers. Each side has its advantages and disadvantages, and one must tailor the solution to one's personal circumstances.

cfitz

[TheWizard]

He won't be keeping two hard drives in the same puter, cfitz, he will get an external hard drive...if he goes that route. I like the cost-time variable, by the way, in that instance I agree, hard drive wins hands down. Although, I say all this about a second hard drive, yet I don't use one myself! Maybe I prefer being slow and methodical with my CD-RW drive.

[cfitz]

He won't be keeping two hard drives in the same puter, cfitz, he will get an external hard drive...if he goes that route.

Not in this case, but I was making the general argument. And there is still a finite, albeit much smaller, chance of both hard drives dying in the same catastrophic failure while the external drive is connected to the computer during the actual backup process. And this probability goes back up again if external drive is left hooked up and plugged into the same power strip as the computer all the time. It isn't unlikely that someone would do that just for the convenience factor.

In any event, the truly conservative approach would be to buy two backup hard drives to make three drives in total, and never keep all three of them together in the same place at one time. Granted, this is probably overkill for one's personal computer, but it depends on the value one attaches to his stored data.

cfitz

[boblx2]

I think you need to decide if it is a "money" thing or a "backup" thing. In my case the data I backup is invaluble so cost is not an option. I have to use DVD's for backup. Utimately all hard discs develop problems and need to be formatted, etc. Once a DVD is burned it is archived and that is the degree of reliability I need. If yours is not so valuable maybe the discussion can go on and on and....

But for a permanent backup that is not going to crash when a hard disc crashes DVD's are the way to go. Where I work we have disc farms for backup and granted I have never heard of one crashing however there have been cases where things have gotten accidently over written, etc. I don't have the luxury of allowing for that type of stability. Also if you are going to backup on a HD why not just get yourself a larger HD and be done with it. Problem solved, cheapest solution.


Good luck with it..............