DVD Media question

Folks - having never had a DVD writer before...

I need to purchase blank DVD disks - they will be used for data backup purposes. The DVD writers I have support all the usual formats: dvd-rom, dvd-r, dvd+r, dvd-rw,dvd+rw, dvd-r dl, dvd+r dl

So, what discs do I need to buy?

Cheers
Dave

Dave,

I use dvd-r disks for my PC and my DVD recorder.

Michael.

Hi,

DVD-R & DVD+R are the cheapest to buy and it shouldn't really matter which of these you use, these are single use disks, ie...you can't re-record.
DVD-RW & DVD+RW are slightly more expensive and are re-recordable.
DVD-R DL & DVD+R DL are dual layer disks and are the most expensive but hold the most data, over 8GB per disk.

The choice is yours !!

Cheers.

Hi Dave

I use “Verbatim” DVD+RW, which are DVD+ Rewritable, seems that any DVD players / recorders and PCs I have come across can quite easily handle these disks (4.7GB). Very handy for transferring old family movies from video tapes to DVD, then making copies and sending them to other family members.
Dave, I would highly recommend that you invest in an external hard-drive, I purchased a “Seagate Free Agent" with a capacity of 500GB for only 169 Euro in Peat’s in Dublin, I have lots of AVIs of meteors backed up on this system and it is as simply as it gets, no messing around.

Clear skies
Mike

Beware that rewritables are a lot slower to record than regular +r or -r disks. Hence, only buy RW if you need to write more than once. For archival purposes +r or -r are the way to go or, if you want to get more on each archive the DL ones.

Bart.

Dave,

Be aware that the life-span on writable DVDs and CDs is not that great. Because they only employ a pigment-based data storage method and not a perforated foil (like commercial CDs and DVDs) data has been known to become corrupted (through pigment break-down) in as little as a year - though this is an extreme example.

The point is, don't treat DVDs or CDs as *permanent* data storage media. Always have a master backup on a separate/dedicated hard disk (and hope to god that it doesn't suffer a crash!)

Phil.

PS - PCW or PC World? magazines occasionally do a review of these things. It might be worth looking up their websites for their take on the problem.