You don't have an external drive? DVDs are a cheaper alternative for backing up your files, but, in my own experience, this is not the best way to do this, and external drives are relatively inexpensive for what you get and the time it will take you to back up data using DVDs (or CDs.)
There are far more disadvantages than there are advantages of using this media for the task.
Advantages:
- If you don't have a lot of data to backup, using DVDs are the way to go.
- They are inexpensive.
- Great for movies and sound files!
- Resilient to use (if you don't damage the surfaces) and no moving parts.
Disadvantages:
- Backing up to DVDs are time-consuming and take lots of extra steps.
- Special care must be taken not to damage them by scratching or pitting the surfaces.
- A terabyte's worth of data on these takes up much more physical space than an external drive.
- They DO deteriorate and become corrupted over time and in certain conditions.
- Easily ruined by direct sunlight in a relatively short time if during the summer especially.
- They seem to be more vulnerable to "Cyclical Redundancy Check" errors. (not because they are round!)
- They record data slowly.
- If the drive you've used to back up your DVD/CDs to is off in alignment just a bit, this spells trouble later on when you go to back up data on a different drive - and you no longer have the original drive you backed up the data with!
Flash/Thumb drives...
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Bennyfacter
Premium
Great to remind people of this, most people only start backing up after they lose a lot of important data!
Timshazz
Premium
Happened to me last week. Tech dude has recovered about 80%. I'm in Vietnam so it only cost me $100. My biggest loss is emails which WA tech support suggested I back up to Outlook on my computer. I must have had a wrong setting and it it sucked all my emails out of the WA. I never got time to have a secondary back up before the failure!!! . I'm now working with Google apps for work/Google drive now so now all important stuff goes online. for 5 bucks a month it's worth it to have my emails organised from one account and important stuff backed up. I never lost much as things are backed up on various devices so now it's just time getting them reorganized. BUT it could have been a total disaster.so I'm definitely putting in a more robust process.
djlv
Premium
thx for the reminder!!
It's a good time for me to review this area also. i work as a songwriter & music producer and my operating basis for recording is to keep all audio & production files on an external drive which works more efficiently with the production software.. so in this situation i also need a back up of my external drive..
On a kinda related topic i just implemented the use of the WordPress plugin "UpdraftPlus Backup" to automatically do a full site backup to my Google Drive once a week.. it does make you sleep a little easier at night :~)
It's a good time for me to review this area also. i work as a songwriter & music producer and my operating basis for recording is to keep all audio & production files on an external drive which works more efficiently with the production software.. so in this situation i also need a back up of my external drive..
On a kinda related topic i just implemented the use of the WordPress plugin "UpdraftPlus Backup" to automatically do a full site backup to my Google Drive once a week.. it does make you sleep a little easier at night :~)