DVD writer now or later?

[chaoliang]

My HDs are full of scanned images. I'm ready to buy a DVD writer. But the new generation (doulbe layer) is announced to come end this year. Should I wait?
What are the experiences of you with DVD writers? Are they as reliable as CDs?

[TransformX]

Do you really *need* it *now* ?
CD writers currently cost about a quarter.

[Gurm]

The current generation of "good/excellent" writers will be dual-layer capable. Pioneer has already demonstrated dual-layer writing on an out-of-box A06, and Liteon's drives are similarly capable.

- Gurm

[GuchiGuh]

I just got a DVD-write on my laptop...taking a while to adjust. Not quite sure how to burn yet
but then again I don't ahve the software either..
*goes on Kaaza...*

but yeah go for it man. am glad i can make...'backupcopies' of ...DVDs.....

[xortam]

Dogbert's got a point about CDs. I just got a great deal at OfficeMax yesterday. 100 CD-Rs, 100 CD-RWs, and 100 slim-style cases all for $5 after rebates. They also have an internal CD burner for $5 after rebates. Doesn't really replace a DVD burner though except for data backup.

[rugger]

Now is a good time to get your first DVD-burner.

Prices on burners are good, the media is just starting to become affordable, and the standards are finally coming into focus.

There will be dual layer stuff in the future, but it will not be cheap and neither will the media.

I will be getting my optorite 4x burner this week. No idea if it will ever do dual layer (unlikely), but by the time I care, the new dual layer drives will be cheap and MUCH more capible.

[chaoliang]

@TransformX: The images are very large files (120MB each), and I have a lot of them. CDs are too small for that purpose.

@Gurm: I also read this. I hope it will be true. I'm thinking about the 8x Plextor.

[Wombat]

Originally posted by xortam
Dogbert's got a point about CDs. I just got a great deal at OfficeMax yesterday. 100 CD-Rs, 100 CD-RWs, and 100 slim-style cases all for $5 after rebates. They also have an internal CD burner for $5 after rebates. Doesn't really replace a DVD burner though except for data backup.

I'm really starting not to like CD burning for backup. I have a ton of data, around 150GB or so. That's 200-300 CDs. That means <I>changing</I> CDs 200-300 times, <I>per</I> backup, <i>per</i> restore. So you're tied to your computer for hours and hours.

DVD would mean that I only have to do that about 10% as much. It's worth the free time alone to me, probably.

At the moment, I'm probably going to throw my old 80GB Maxtors into the Linux box, and do a network backup.

[KvHagedorn]

Originally posted by Wombat
I'm really starting not to like CD burning for backup. I have a ton of data, around 150GB or so. That's 200-300 CDs. That means <I>changing</I> CDs 200-300 times, <I>per</I> backup, <i>per</i> restore. So you're tied to your computer for hours and hours.

DVD would mean that I only have to do that about 10% as much. It's worth the free time alone to me, probably.

At the moment, I'm probably going to throw my old 80GB Maxtors into the Linux box, and do a network backup.

I was about to say.. why are you even messing with that when you can get a 200GB Barracuda for $100? Instead of one, get two.

[agallag]

That's what I do. I have a 120GB in my server where I store all my stuff. Then every night before I go to bed, I run a robocopy to copy it all over to the 160GB drive in my desktop. For accidental deletions or file corruption, I have volume shadow copy running on the server automatically every night, so I can go back and get a good copy. Very handy feature of 2003 server.

[xortam]

Wombat ... I didn't really mean data backup, what I meant to say is archiving data (files under 100 MB). CDs are also nice for sharing photos with friends and family. I'll get a DVD burner for my PC someday but I do all my video capture and DVD burning through a standalone DVDR. Easy as pie and great results. The DVDR also has a TBC and 3D Y/C filters so it cleans up some dubs quite nicely. I'd use the PC DVD burner for more sophisticated menuing and such beyond what the DVDR offers (importing captures/dubs from the DVDR). I'd also use the PC burner for system backup. My burner supports DVD-RAM so I'd get a PC burner with that support and reuse the media for backups.

[TransformX]

Wombat, for the price of making 150GB backup on CDs/DVDs, buy a second silent & dust proof computer in a micro case, with a large HDD and Gigabit ethernet and use it as your backup.
In the long run it's faster, cheaper, more reliable and takes much less storage space.

[xortam]

... and just keep adding HDDs for each generation of backup that you want to keep.

[Marshmallowman]

I think archival DVD's would cost a quarter to a third the price of the HDD, but you would probably save that in hours spent flipping disks in and out.

Unless you have robotic Disk changer , thats someyhing I always wanted to make, The great thing is that the disk's and the drive stay about the same(shape/size) so you could migrate from CD to DVD to nuimproved blu ray DVD...etc

[Tempest]

Dunno about you, but I actually intend to go out and buy myself a Pioneer A06 later today

Edit: I have ~25 gigs of data that I need to backup, mostly videocaps, digital images and photoscans. I don't think that my old HP CD-writer 9100i is quite up to it