Archiving Your Digital Memories on Discs

Do you have a recent backup of your hard drive? What would happen if your hard drive failed and you lost everything? Most of us keep our digital photographs on a computer, oftentimes forgetting that machines are vulnerable to theft, viruses, malfunctions, and failure. These images could be lost forever if you don't take the time to make copies or backups. Technology is always changing, thus challenging consumers to find storage mediums that will survive the test of time. You can find cheap spindles of discs selling for under $20; those are fine for short term purposes. But if you're planning to archive irreplaceable media such as family photos or home movies, your best bet is to do a little research to find out which discs will protect your digital memories for many years to come.

So which media can you trust? I found an article (Thanks Red Ferret!) that explains how to choose archival media that will last for a very long time. A little too technical for most of us, but a very interesting read. The author, who is also a professional software developer and photographer, concludes that the best archival medium is that which doesn't easily fade: "Unlike pressed CDs/DVDs, 'burnt' CDs/DVDs can eventually 'fade,' due to five things that affect the quality of CD media: sealing method, reflective layer, organic dye makeup, where it was manufactured, and your storage practices." He also prefers DVD+R over DVD-R due to its superior error correction and burning control.

If you do your research, however, you'll find many companies that claim its discs have a 100-year longevity due to the use of gold-reflective layers and high-performance dyes. These discs are also more expensive, ranging from $50 to $300 for a pack. Among the top recommendations are MAM-A Gold Archive discs, Taiyo Yuden Media, Verbatim's UltraLife Gold, and TDK discs. Regardless of the type of discs you decide to buy, you should remember to take care of them if you intend to revisit them 10 to 20 years from now.

Here are some care tips:

• Store discs upright in their original jewel cases in a cool dark place.
• Keep them away from direct sunlight and extreme heat.
• Leave them in original wrapped package or spindle until you're ready to use them.
• Never use regular markers to label discs.

Understanding popular discs formats:

• Compact Discs hold up to 700MB, while DVDs can hold up to 4.7GB. Dual-Layer DVDs can hold up to 9GB.
  
• CD-R: "R" stands for recordable. Once you record on these, you can't re-record anything else.
• CD-RW: You can erase and record as many times as you want.
• DVD-R and DVD+R: Not re-recordable. Once you record on them, that's it.
• DVD+RW and DVD-RW: Re-recordable, Re-writable.

Some related articles you'll find useful:

• Archiving and Backing Up Your Digital Photo Collection
• Archiving Your Digital Photos for Easy Retrieval
• Getting to Know DVDs
• Understanding How Data Is Recorded onto a DVD
• Understanding the Difference Between DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM

This is a very interesting topic, and I would like to hear what archival methods you prefer and why. I hadn't even considered archival discs before, but I think I will after today.