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Posted on November 17, 2007 by Alexander Golishev | Posted under Data Recovery
Backup to DVD: Pros and Cons
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When you select a backup storage medium for doing critical data backup, you should look into such things as storage capacity of the selected backup storage medium, reliability of the storage medium, and its ability to be stored at a distance from the original data source. The last issue is especially important as the first rule of backup states: Keep your backup as far as possible from your computer! DVD is a large capacity optical disk which allows recording up to 10 GB of digital data (double layer DVD). But is 10 GB a large capacity? Well, if your entire hard drive is 80 GB, then you will probably get neither too tired, nor too bored with copying your data to 8 disks. But what if the data that you need to back up weigh more than 200 GB? Recording such large backup sets to DVD makes little sense. However, you may back them up to HD-DVD or Blu-ray. As a light weight optical disk, DVD is ideal for backup as you can simply put it in a pocket and carry away from the computer where your original data are stored. If your computer perishes in a major fire or is stolen, you will be able to retain those data on the DVD copies you have made. To be able to record your backup to DVD, you should have a DVD recoding drive installed on your computer. If you don't have a DVD recording drive, your backup to DVD is going to bring about additional expenses. In addition, to do DVD backup, you will have to use some kind of DVD burning software which you will have to buy if you don't have it already. If your backup set is larger than a single DVD, you will have to use more than one disk. Recording backup to several disks may disturb your file integrity, so you may have to manually split your backup to pieces. In terms of reliability DVD is only as reliable as any optical disk which can get corrupted in the course of time or fall victim to mechanical damage. However, quality storage conditions can provide the needed security level. So when you have recorded your backup to DVD, make sure you keep those disks in a secure environment which is free of mechanical damage risks. In conclusion, while there are certainly quite a few weaknesses to DVD backup, the bottom line is that DVD is still among most inexpensive and reliable backup storage devices with many strengths such as small size and light weight, which means it is easy to transport and store, and a rather large storage capacity which allows recording small and medium backups to a single disk. About The Author: Alexander Golishev is a copywriter for Novosoft LLC, software developer, who writes about data backup and recovery, as well as other IT related topics. You can find more information on backup to DVD here. |
Tags: BACKUP TO DVD, DVD BACKUP, BACKINP UP TO DVD
