Anyone still archiving to DVDs?

[budjames]

Since moving to digital capture exclusively about 6 years ago, I have amassed over 50k images and that excludes the files created in post-processing. I use a year/month/subject file structure to save images to my hard disk. This is backed up to 2 external drives religiously (redundant backups which I rotate to/from a safe deposit box at my bank). At the end of a year, I then archive the year's worth of files to DVDs.

It seems that many posters on this forum have abandoned DVD backups in favor of using only external hard drives. I was curious if anyone is still making a permanent archive to DVD's?

Thanks.

Bud James
North Wales, PA

[Ray]

Yes, me!

Most of my shooting is done on trips when I'm away for extended periods. I carry a laptop and record my RAW images to DVD. I have also started carrying pocket drives that plug into the USB of the laptop. The latest one I bought is a Western Digital 200GB that weighs no more than my mobile phone and literally fits into a shirt pocket. I expect to return to base with at least 2 copies of all my images, one on DVD and one on the portable external pocket drive.

It seems I'm one of the few who have faith in the long term reliability of optical media.

Of course, I also use external hard drives as a data base and for ease of access. However, if I didn't always have a copy on DVD of at least the RAW images and processed tiffs for printing, I'd probably get very paranoid about hard drive failure.

[francois]

When I'm traveling, in addition to external hard drives, I make copies on DVDs.

[Lisa Nikodym]

I still archive to DVDs in *addition* to an external disk drive.  My spouse tries to convince me I'm silly to do so, but I do it anyway.  I feel that having an archive in two completely different formats is safer in the long run than having just one.

Lisa

[sniper]

Yes I still back up to DVD as well as external drives, it's a pain in the ass but you can't be too carefull.      Wayne

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

It's a good thing I've got six external hard drives for multiple backups. I also have stacks of blank DVDs waiting for the day I get around to archiving all the RAWs and final versions.

Procrastination doesn't make for good backup practices.  

[Monito]

I recommend using multiple hard drives for archiving images and (additionally) archiving the best 200 to 500 images on one or two DVDs.  DVDs are time consuming to shuffle in and out of drives and quickly proliferate if they are used as the main archive system.

[matt4626]

I back up to external hard drives and DVD's. The hard drives are at home and the DVD's are stored at my office.

[Alaska]

The issue with a DVD is what is their lifespan?  Some say from 2 years to 200 years.  For those special images multiple backups are good insurance.  And as time goes on what will be the storage medium of choice in 10 years let alone 20 years.

One this end use a DVD, a hard drive in the computer and a removable hard drive.  With three copies I have a greater percentage of success vs failure.

Jim

[Don Libby]

Our current traveling setup includes a laptop along with 3 250GB external hard drives.  A typical shooting day will see the use of the Mamiya/Phase P30+, a Canon 5D and in some cases the 1Ds II.  All files are downloaded onto 2 of the external drives as well as burning a DVD.  We are planning on adding the new 1Ds III to replace the 5D and will also pick up an additional external drive.

We were on the road for 2 months last year shooting in Glacier and Yellowstone and came back with 10 DVD’s.

We use printable archival quality DVD and CD’s and wait till we return home to print the labels.  I’ve found that this is the best way to ensure that I’ve got good backups.  BTW after we get home I download the images from the external drives onto a RAID 5 system as well as an internal hard drive.  By the time I’m finished I have 1 DVD and at least 2 hard drives containing the same RAW image.  Once I work up the image I save this to two drives along with a DVD.

We’re headed to Alaska next year driving up and back on the ALCAN and fully expect to use the new 1Ds III and 1Ds II for wildlife and the Mamiya for landscape.  I figure that we’ll use 4 external 250GB drives for storage as well as take a large stock of DVDs.  With any luck at all, I’ll have all my backup DVDs done by the time we get home with the only thing lacking is printing the labels.  I might also FedEx the disks that are done by the time we leave Alaska so that not all our eggs are in one truck camper.

So the short answer is, yes we still use DVDs to backup.  

Sorry for being so long winded.

don

[httivals]

I still archive to DVDs in *addition* to an external disk drive.  My spouse tries to convince me I'm silly to do so, but I do it anyway.  I feel that having an archive in two completely different formats is safer in the long run than having just one.

Lisa
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=147849\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I do the same thing.

[stever]

i don't know who says a DVD will last 200 years - the dye technology makes them a very questionable archival medium (unlike CDs which on the other hand don't have enough capacity to be useful) in addition to the drive compatibility issues

i believe the best practical solution is to have 3 copies on large hard drives, one of which is stored in a location

[BernardLanguillier]

It seems that many posters on this forum have abandoned DVD backups in favor of using only external hard drives. I was curious if anyone is still making a permanent archive to DVD's?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=147786\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

What I do:

- live storage is a SCSI320 RAID5 4.5TB external unit,
- it is backed up to a 4TB RAID5 NAS,
- all the RAW files are backed up to DVDs,
- these DVDs are themselves copied to other DVDs thanks to a standalone DVD duplicator. I typically use different DVD brands for original and copy.

Cheers,
Bernard

[Lisa Nikodym]

I should also note that I don't use regular DVDs, but more expensive "archival" DVDs.  At least they're *supposed* to last much longer than cheap ones...

Lisa

[Ray]

I should also note that I don't use regular DVDs, but more expensive "archival" DVDs.  At least they're *supposed* to last much longer than cheap ones...

Lisa
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Well, that's true of course. If nothing else one is at least buying greater peace of mind   .

The problem as I see it is that longevity tests always employ some sort of accelerated abuse of the material being tested. It would be no use to anyone if Willhelm tested the longevity of ink and paper combinations by placing the prints in albums, unexposed to light or extremes of temperature and humidity. If he were to do this, we'd still be waiting for the results of the first test of paper longevity he ever attempted.

The bottom line on the archival longevity of optical media is, no-one knows. But it's a safe bet that the longevity will be considerably increased if the discs are stored in a clean environment, away from sunlight, strong chemical odours and extreme shifts of temperature and humidity.

There's a site at [a href=\"http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/opticalmedialongevity.html]http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/opticalmedialongevity.html[/url] that emphasises these points.

[David Sutton]

I recently transferred my photos stored on the best shop bought  DVDs to a hard drive. I found I averaged one image in 500 corrupted per year. My guess is that the decay rate may accelerate with time. Mind you, hard drives have their problems too. David