Posted by Ken Maltby on 09/22/65 11:37

"Toshi1873" <toshi@notanywhere.jp> wrote in message
news:MPG.1e35b3604ccc2828989a2a@news.giganews.com...
> Different strokes for different applications.
>
> Write-once DVDs are best for archival snapshots where you're only
> burning 1-2 discs per day on average. Older discs should be kept around
> as fallback positions if newer generations of the backups fail for some
> reason. Really old discs typically end up in a closet, stored in a
> cakebox on the off-chance that things really go bad. Discs also have
> the advantage of portability. (Although the 2.5" laptop drives are
> lightweight and tiny.)
>
> HDs really compete against tape and rewritable DVDs. Good for daily
> backups and you can rotate the units out periodically for multi-
> generational backups. You probably shouldn't let the drives sit unused
> for more then a few months to a year without checking the contents (and
> whether the drive will still spin up).

Bearing failure under storage conditions was solved a
very long time ago. No drive you can buy now a days
would have any problem spinning up, if the drive is kept
in a minimal climate controlled environment. If it were
heated sufficiently to force outgassing, over and over
again, it is feasible that the drive could be "dried out",
but that would be hard to do.

Dye failure/rot of a DVD is still a question mark.

A check of any long term storage is a prudent measure,
but I would suggest checking a sample every 5 years or
so, should do the trick.

Luck;
Ken

[Back to original message]