I’m not sure how you store your media, but I sure hope to goodness that you backup your data regularly. And when I say backup, it doesn’t just mean burning one DVD copy of your wedding photos.
These days, data is really the lifeblood of most businesses, if not all of them. And we cannot go without it (do I hear a chorus of “yes-es”?). When was the last time you took a break from your blackberry, iPhone, computer and Internet for more than 72 hours? (’nuff said, right?).
For those who are not convinced about backups, read an article I wrote some time ago here.
Anyhow, I archive my data on several brands of DVD, and I’m glad I did do this weird step in data backup as sometimes, certain brands of DVDs do fail. Here’s some photos from DVDs of mine that suffered weird symptoms. As a result of these problems, your computer might just freeze and not be able to access the data, or certain files will be inaccessible. The worst case is a totally inaccessible disc.
I think I’ll refer to this as chicken pox – there are random spots on the DVD.
And this is known as dandruff – it flakes
Suicide – looks like slits were made on the DVD
Well, I hope you’re better acquainted with the various “illnesses” that DVDs develop and do something to doctor them before it’s too late.
Here lie my thoughts: that of an entrepreneur, media-junkie, gadget-junkie, photographer, videographer, once-PC-user-but-now-Mac-user and husband.
Alex, its time to get those archivable grade DVDs
I think they cost about the same price of a 250Gb HDD nowadays
Alex, this is the most geekiest post I’ve ever read. DVD disease. MANNNN… ;p
Hey Mark… We’ve now upgraded to using only branded DVDs – we spread our risk that way. We buy a blend of Verbatim, Imation, Memorex, Benq, Mitsubishi and when we archive our data 3 times, we use 3 different brands. Yes, it might sound geeky to some people, but when I’m 50 and have my data intact…
Then I’ll be laughing at people like Rachel. *grin* Anyhow, geekiness is in… nerdiness is out.
Alex, try backup on an external server, the data support is maintanined by experts, and it secured from physical troubles such as the one that your DVD encountered
I use http://www.77backup.com and I’m quite happy with it – not expensive and works fine.
Regards
Carlos
Thanks for the great suggestion, Carlos. Indeed with the improved speeds of the Internet, it is viable to perform off-site backups.
I now use a fairly automated method to perform my backups, and it’s quite painless – I definitely do not use DVDs like that anymore.