DVD Bleg
Looking for a good way to back up computer data that is portable. Since having a kid, we now snap digital camera photos by the hundreds. We’ve been backing them up on CDs but that is tedious and, currently, I have about 12 to burn to complete the whole back up. We’d also like to take them to family members so they can see them. So, I need something that is both compatible with most computers as well as holding lots of stuff. I was looking into some sort of DVD recorder (which I’ve heard can hold 17 gig of data). This sound perfect. But the ones that I find say they hold 5 gig. Anyone got any recommendations?
February 4th, 2006 at 8:34 pm
Most common DVD burners now function with 4.7 gig discs. I’ve not heard of 17 gig discs (but would be very happy with that).
I bought the following when I built my computer in January:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827131264
(SONY Black IDE DVD Burner Model DW-Q30A BK if for some reason the link doesn’t work)
It works very well, and if you or someone you know can add it to your computer, you would be up and running burning DVDs pretty fast. I got the Philips DVD bundle option on that page, so all together it cost me under $60.
It apparently burns DL (dual layer) discs (8.5 gig), but I haven’t bought any to test it with. I’d recommend it; I like it. Burns DVDs very, very fast, considering how much data is on them, and I’ve yet to burn a bad DVD.
As for software — can’t make any recommendations there. I use Linux, Varsha and GnomeBaker. I don’t know the Windows equivilants to the latter two (but I’m sure someone reading this will).
February 4th, 2006 at 9:08 pm
Another possibility is to get an external hard drive… it’s a bit more costly to start with, but if you get a sufficiently large one, you can dump everything on it in one go, then disconnect it and dump it in your gunsafe or wherever you keep backups…
February 4th, 2006 at 10:18 pm
Cool, will have to check out the Sony.
Fox, not sure about the drive but not a bad idea.
February 4th, 2006 at 11:16 pm
While I’d advise an external hard-drive for backups of something especially important (such as pictures of a child; that’s irreplacable), that takes away the neat factor of plugging a DVD into grandma’s home DVD player and having a picture slideshow, which is possible with DVDs.
Western Digital has an 80GB drive that sells for around 80 bucks on the same site that I linked above, or they used to. Plugs into a USB port, and it’s small enough to be easily portable. Another option for smaller file transfers would be a 1GB jump drive/flash drive/whatever-the-current-term-is that plugs into the USB port. I bought a 256MB jump drive for like $20 a year ago, now you can get a GB for $50. Fits on a keyring. Can’t do everything at once but if you just want to take some pictures from one computer to another for some reason…
February 5th, 2006 at 12:11 am
We had an extra hard drive and a USB hard drive enclosure we had purchased for Melisssa’s CS classes, so we went that route. It’s nice to be able to back up huge quantities of data at once without swapping disks. Since it’s an external USB device we can hook it up to either laptop. Right now the drive (minus the enclosure) is in the safety deposit box. I need to pick up another HD so we can have rotating backups.
This 80 GB Western Digital USB drive is just $144, and doesn’t require a power cord unless you need to use a longer USB cable.
February 5th, 2006 at 12:37 am
Uncle, I do a lot of DVD backups. I can recomend the sony double layer burner whole heartedly. You can get printable media for less than .20 per disc for -r at Costco. The are good media to use, TDK brand. If you have any specific questions I would love to help you with them you can call me or email me. A great reference site is afterdawn.com. It has lots of freeware that is great stuff and works easier that some commercial software.
I have tried the external drive and had some issues with not getting all the info across. I have had drives crash in the past but I have never lost any info from DVD.
February 5th, 2006 at 1:51 am
I have several clients that I converted from Tape Drives to CD-R’s and later DVD-R’s.
The Dual Layers are nice at 8.5gig.
Some of them even use DVD-RW, although that isn’t within your specs.
Whenever burning DVD’s, always do three things:
1. Set the software (Nero comes with most burners) to “Close the Session” or “Finalize the Disc”. If you don’t no other DVD reader will be able to access it. Of course, you can also just drag the pictures onto the drive with Windows Explorer. XP has burning support built-in.
2. Make two
3. Test them both on a driver _other than_ the DVD writer. If you mess up step one, it will be obvious right away.
Oh, and on a hardware note, I don’t recommend Sony. They are more expensive than others, sometimes require proprietary drivers / software to work, and have that whole root-kit / DRM debacle to answer for yet.
Other companies make stuff that is just as good, cheaper, and the company doesn’t consider you a thief. I’m just sayin’….
February 5th, 2006 at 8:23 am
I have a Memorex USB DVD recorder. Works like a champ. Comes with Nero software, which is pretty good. You can also get the freeware CDBurnerXP Pro which is fast, lightweight, and works great with the Memorex DVD and all my other CD burners. The Memorex will burn CDs or DVDs and it’s fast. I also have a Maxtor 200GB external USB hard drive.
Here is my workflow for archiving photos:
1. Download photos from camera into a new folder with a name indicating the date, ie. YYYY_MM_DD or 2006_02_05 for example. (At one time I kept these folders under “My Pictures”. I now have a second hard drive just for image folders.)
2. Burn the folder onto a CD or DVD if it won’t fit on a CD. I typically do this only for “important” photos or when I’m on the road (you definitely don’t want to trust photos to a notebook hard drive).
3. Import the folder contents into phtoto cataloging/organizing software. (I use Photoshop Elements 4.0 Organizer).
4. Run a weekly backup of all image folders and the organizer database to an external USB hard drive. (I setup a scheduled task to do this automatically).
So now in theory you have three copies of everything, one of which is portable, or two if you count the USB hard drive. But, CDs and DVDs can “rot” over time, so don’t get the idea they are permanent, archival backups. As strange as it sounds, the hard drive backup is probably more reliable not only because it’s more convenient and you will use it, but also because you are using it more frequently and it’s easier to check. If it starts failing, you can get a new one. I’m actually thinking about getting a second one and alternating the backups so I will still have a backup copy if the external USB drive decides to die at the exact instant the old backup file is being rewritten.
Yes, after having a hard drive crash and losing a bunch of photos that weren’t backed up, I am obsessive about this.
Anyway, your question was more about sharing. A DVD burner with cool software like Nero will give you all sorts of ways to share photos, whether just cramming JPGs on a CD for someone else to view on their computer, or burning a slideshow DVD that will play on their TV with titles and chapters and a soundtrack and narrative or whatever, just like a movie DVD.
February 5th, 2006 at 11:02 am
Thanks, all. I’m leaning toward the external HD (which I can stick in the safe).
February 5th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
After reading this thread last night I decided it was time to get that second drive. Right now I’m leaning towards this, an F.A. Porsche-designed LaCie 160 GB USB drive for $94 or the 250 GB for $139. Those are insane bargains, and LaCie’s a good company from way back.
When you back up, be sure to get the Program Files folder, too. It’s not that you want to back up programs, but some programs silently save data files to their folder inside Program Files.
February 5th, 2006 at 1:45 pm
Funny you should ask; I’ve been doing this for years, for myself and my clients. Purchase an external USB-2 hard drive. I recommend Seagate or Western Digital. Use your camera software or Windows Explorer to copy/move pictures from the camera’s memory to the external drive. The drive, being plug & pray, can be transported and connected to other computers as needed, which allows you to show them to others where and when you want to. However, you also need to get a DVD-writer to make “permanent” archives. A Double Layer drive is best, since they can hold 8 gigs of data, but be advised, the blank media has not yet come down in price. Remember, irreplaceable pictures of family & friends are just that, irreplaceable. Always have a backup, or two. ( do they make an ankle holster for USB drives ? )
February 5th, 2006 at 10:25 pm
17gb= dual layer, double sided dvd. Don’t know if you can get the discs, but if you can, they would be writable with an ordinary dual layer DVD writer. HD backup is still a better option though.
February 6th, 2006 at 12:45 am
unless of course, your back up hard drive crashes.
February 6th, 2006 at 12:58 am
Top: that’s a potential problem with all systems. Tape backups are kinda notorious for it. But yeah, multiple layers of backup are best.
February 6th, 2006 at 10:48 am
DVDs are gonna be old news soon.
Already HD-DVD/Blu-Ray are out (15-30 Gb), and holographic discs (200 – 300 Gb)are on the horizon. Very ‘spensive still, but it always is at first.
A USB hard drive sounds like the most useful choice.