CD-R data discs not so great for media storage. What else is there?

I regularly burn MP3 files onto CD-R discs (as data). I also regularly burn JPEGS onto CD-R discs (as data). I sometimes combine both picture and music files onto one data disc and access it often.

I notice every now and then i have problems accessing files from these CD-R discs.

Sometimes, when listening to tracks off the disc, viewing a slideshow of pictures (from the same disc), becomes hard to do (as the images freeze up). NOt always though. ANd no, i don't suspect this to be a spyware-related problem

I think burning MP3z and JPEGz onto CD-R's is not always wise right? As CD-R's can become corrupted and are not reliable (especially generic ones)?.

The question is then, how should I be storing my precious songs and travel pictures. I wish to keep both of these media filetypes for many years to come.

Do I have to burn CD-R after CD-R and watch my files slowly slip away to corruption or is there a better way?

I've considered online storage (but I burn 700MB of media files) at a time. What resource will allow me to store that much content forever?

What have been your experiences?

interesting topic, I recently got some dvd movies from a friend and thought how to save them for a long time, or how to make a back up.

I considered to buy a) an external hard disk external dvd burner, both for my laptop and c) dvd recorder to record movies from satelite and to make copies from my collection.

I finally decided to buy a dvd recorder so I can record and copy movies.

I use regular cd-r for mp3 and jpeg but do not burn both on the same cd and dont have problems.

I guess better to have a dvd burner in your case, you can create files/chapters on it and can select the quality from high ( one hour record) to lower (up to 8 hours)

DVD burners for computer: around 3,000 baht, dvd recorder 10,000

hope this helps

Ok , first off no digital format is going to last forever (do you think CD's or DVD's and players will exist in 50 years?). You will actively have to format shift your data in the future (this is going to bite a lot of people with their wedding / family photos all digital now ).

Burnt CD-R's generally have a lifetime from 2 - 5 years however there are many variables.

* Brand, manufacture and type of organic dye used.

* Drive used to do the recording and speed.

* Storage temperature and light conditions.

* How then media is handled and labeled.

I've got CD's burnt around 9 years ago that still read fine on the other hand I've had cheap ones with read errors after 6 months.

Other backup media options include.

* Hard drive ( high capacity, generall reliable, look at the published MTBF (Mean Time between Failure) for a model when purchasing for backup purposes). You can use arrays of drives for redundancy

* Magnetic Tape (Lifetimes claimed from 30 - 100 years but expensive).

I second Simmo. I have CDRs which were written in the days when you could only get CD recorders of the SCSI variety, and they could only write at 2x. That's more than 10 years ago. And they still work perfectly fine. They were discs made in Japan, stored in folders, and generally well taken care of.

And I've seen CDRs go bad after only a few weeks. There was rot along the edges or the top layer peeled off. These were the typical el-cheapo discs typically found in Thailand, and they were written by me, but given to someone else, who didn't take good care of them (an gross understatement). Of course, the guy blames me for the loss.

Problem is, it's not that easy to find good media in Thailand. Most vendors cater to the Thai market, and that market's motto is "cheap, cheap, cheap". So you'll find tons and tons of Taiwanese-made discs. Yes, including the name-brand discs from Mitsubishi and Sony and HP (go ahead, look at the "made in ..." label). Very rarely will you find quality Japanese-made discs, since they're relatively expensive (actually, pretty cheap in the US, but since the market is so small here, they're marked up quite a bit).

One archival media that never gained popularity outside of Japan, but was *very* reliable, is the MO disc (magneto-optical disc). The special thing that made it last was the fact that you needed both lasers and a magnetic field to alter the data.

Do you set the Verify option when you burn.

This gives a first check of whether the data is safely on the disk.

IMHO CD or DVD discs are very sensitive and better to avoid for backup media. It's easy to get scratched and you lost your data. Except if you use them for archives.

Harddisk would be a lot cheaper and last longer (just make sure you don't drop it). Currently I store all my data in external HD with some backups in my laptops. In the future I could just buy newer-better-larger harddisk and transfer all my data, in order to extend my data's life span. In my current external HD, I still have good & working old files from 10+ years ago.

Tapes (DAT) may be the safest and last the longest for archiving (as long as you keep them in dry place to avoid moist/fungus), but the devices are a bit expensive.

The thing about a harddisk is that you've got all your eggs in one basket. Drop the basket, and you're out of luck. Problem with harddisks is that they tend to fail catastrophically... ie, the whole thing goes. Not only that, their failure can come at *any* time... it may go kaput in 20 years, or 20 minutes, depending on what dieties you worship. Mistreat a harddrive as much as you mistreat a CD/DVD, and you'll hasten the departure (a harddrive has some *very* complicated mechanics).

Of course, with the relatively cheap cost of a large harddisk these days, you can go and buy 2 or more, and mirror them or put them in some other type of RAID array. But now you've gone beyond archiving and gone into the realm of online storage. The thing about online storage is that it's *not* very permanant... it's vulnerable to human error (ie, delete *.*, virii, etc).

Now, a good quality CDR/DVDR, when properly archived and stored (and remember, you're not accessing it all that often... it's an ARCHIVE) will last very long indeed. An archive in this case is no different from a backup, since backups also aren't meant for frequent use.

So, basically, since persianpower calls for backups and frequent use, I say keep on using CDs/DVDs as backups, but only quality media, and store it properly. For actual use, get more harddisk space. That way, you don't abuse your backup media (you really shouldn't...it's for backup, not everyday use), and you have your files at your fingertips.