[Discussion] Disk Backup to CD (Carl Gehr)

[Carl Gehr]

Specifically regarding STORING of whatever media you use:
	I have a Safe Deposit Box at a nearby bank!
The fireproof safe/box that I keep in house is only temporary
before the media is moved to the bank.

Carl

On Thu, 10 May 2007 13:00:12 -0700, Bill Nicholls wrote:

>Keep in mind that CDs are *not* a robust mechanism for storage. Both 
>heat and light will accelerate the aging of the CD.
>
>As my friend Van found out, never leave you CD on a windowsill. He 
>picked it up after the afternoon sun had hit it for about two hours and 
>it was totally erased.
>
>Unless you have a fireproof safe that limits the inside temp to boiling 
>water, the heat from a fire will also destroy non-stamped CDs. All in 
>all, they really are only a temporary storage medium.
>
>Alternatives:
>1. DVDs - these are harder to erase, but not proof against a lot of 
>light or heat.
>2. Tape - the traditional backup still has a lot of value. Van tells me 
>that good tape drives, often with useable tapes, are available on ebay 
>for 5% of original cost, sometimes less. A good tape in a (non-cheap 
>2000 degree F, 2 hours)) fireproof safe will survive even a very hot fire.
>3. Raid Drives - This is my current mecanism for backup, though I am in 
>the process of setting up a cheap DDS4 tape backup system, using Bacula 
>(recommended open source). A pair of RAID1 200GB drives is about $125, 
>and even a fire is unlikely to destroy the data unless the drives get 
>hot enough to warp.
>
>Recommendation:
>This is what I am doing. I already have multiple RAID1 drives in 
>different systems. I backup core files to two sets of raid drives if 
>they are important. For my video files I have a 1T RAID5 that can be 
>expanded to 2.5T with three more 500GB drives. I can recommend Hitachi 
>for this, though Segate's best are also fine, about the same price. 
>Currently high quality 500GB drives go for about $130-140.
>
>In the next month I will be setting up the tapes and buying a $3-400 
>fireproof safe.
>
>I know it's not cheap, but have you considered how much it costs to 
>recover data from one drive? $300 down, no upper limit and no guarantee. 
>Ouch!  Remember, digital photos and other personal stuff cannot be 
>replaced and insurance is not much compensation.
>
>BillN
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