1x DVD speed is 12X CD speed so that a 8x DVD speed is equivalent to 96x CD speed.
When I make DVD backups of my digital files I make 2 different copies on to two different brands of quality media.
Right now I'm using Apple's 8x DVD disks and some MAM-A DVD -R disks. I have found
Media Supply to be a reputable supplier with a good stock of quality DVD and CD media.
Storing disks vertically in cases is good archival practice, although one set of my backups is stored in DVD notebooks. The other set is stored in individual slim black jewel cases stored vertically in drawers in a metal media cabinet made by Safeco.
I like DVDs for archiving. They hold 4.2 gigs of data and are not subject to the same types of mechanical failure that external firewire hard drives might be. A firewire drive has a motor with bearings and magnetic platters with heads positioned a fraction of inch above the spinning platters. A hard drive has many ways in which it can fail, including accidental erasure. Yes, a scratch can ruin a DVD and it's best to store them in the dark. I have read that the projected life of a well cared for DVD or CD might be 75 to 100 years, but of course no one really knows since they didn't exist more than 20 years ago.
In theory a full 8x DVD with 4.2 gigabytes of data should burn in about 4 minutes and 50 seconds. This time is calculated from the spec that the original 1x CD would play 650 megabytes in 72 minutes. I find real world times with Toast set at 8x on my G5 dual 1.8 Mac tower is around 5 to 6 minutes with comparable time for the disk to be verified.
When I calculate the income I receive from the average job that I shoot, a few dollars for media to back it up is a minor cost. Your time or an assistant's time to manage the burning is a bigger cost. It's foolish to try to save money by buying cheap media.
Linear Mode
