100GB BD-R XL $5.99 + $0.99 ship @ Newegg AP

[VirtualLarry]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817977004&ignorebbr=1

USD $24 off w/ promo code 1226ACS154, ends 12/28

 

[BenJeremy]

Cool. Great deal on this media... but...

I just wish the bottom would drop out of these prices to make it worthwhile as a backup medium. It still seems cheaper (and quicker) just to buy Hitachi refurb HDDs and stack them on a shelf as backups when I can do 2TB for $40 or less.

Realistically, the price has to be somewhere around $5/TB to be worthwhile with the hassle of burn times and potential media corruption.

For my personal stuff (docs, photos), 25GB discs still work well enough for offline backups I can send to relatives homes for additional security.

 

[Zim]

This thread sent me on a bit of an odyssey since I didn't realize that XL discs existed as was curious about which drives supported them. What I discovered was interesting, although may not be entirely the reality. It seems that advances in Blu Ray drives for computers essentially came to a halt in 2012. If you look at models from LG, for instance, they have little in the way of new models or firmware updates beyond that. Most advancements since 2012 have been on the firmware side because the few newer models that there are seem to be based on older hardware. In my case I upgraded my Asus 12B1ST (2012) to an LG WH16NS48 (2015) by switching firmware. As I said, I could be way off track here, but this is what I have found. It doesn't look good for the future of writable Blu Ray, I guess like a lot of other things, archiving of data is moving to the cloud.

And BenJeremy is right. $6 for 100GB is $60 for 1TB and it's not hard to find a new 2.5" 1TB hard drive for $60. That would be infinitely preferable for data storage compared to an optical disc. If you consider the original price of $24... it looks ridiculous. $240 to archive 1TB of data?!

 

[13Gigatons]

sub

 

[ericlp]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TKFCYP0/ref=twister_B009GLGUDK

As a backup medium, wouldn't it be safer to use a flashdrive to backup your stuff and throw the drive in a safe place? Flash drives don't get scratched and it's probably just as faster or bit faster (usb 2) than 4x ROM. JMO I guess.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Flash memory in general is only specced to hold data for 1 year unpowered.

 

[Mike64]

Flash memory in general is only specced to hold data for 1 year unpowered.

Can you "refresh"' flash memory just by "mounting" the drive, or do you have to actually re-write the data? I would never use flash drives/memory as "serious" backup, but I keep a few small, "useful" data files that I don't want on my HD anyway (like unencrypted website logins and passwords). Those drives get used often enough to be "powered up" a lot more than than once a year, but it never occurred to me it might be a good idea to re-write the files or anything...

 

[ericlp]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2925...nt-lose-data-if-left-unplugged-after-all.html

Doubtful, I have actually had old 1gb drives from costco that I bought years ago... I let them sit with some old junk files and I fired it up one day after finding it in a box a few years ago. Files were still there. Shrug. I know it was over 5 years, possibly 10 years. I would like to know the source where you got that info...

Thanks.

 

[killster1]

well hard drives are wonderful and cheap they can fail with out even being used. just sitting in closet for 10 years the hard drive might fail first time use it. Does that mean you cant replace what ever part and get the data off the platters? i dont know!

) i have gone to backing up to 25gb bluray that i purchased from japan. Panasonic 4x suppose to hold data and not corrupt best out of all discs. i really dont know anything just read amazon reviews but so many people swore by them i had to use for myself. Put the bluray backups in safe here and safe offsite. burning them sucks but im sure you can figure out something to do while its burning


Anyone have reviews? If using these for backups i would wait until real reviews! Mitsubishi is verbatim?

 

[Zim]

I wouldn't necessarily trust optical discs over hard drives. BD-R discs are dye based and data is prone to decay and corruption over time. Hard drives are magnetism based and data is prone to decay and corruption over time. Which is more reliable/durable? I have no idea.

Going OT. Sorry.

 

[VirtualLarry]

BD-R discs are dye based

Nope, only the Bastard "LTH" Verbatim Azo dye-based discs. REAL BD-R are made from a phase-change material.

TL;DR: Don't use LTH BD-R, they're crap.

 

[Zim]

Nope, only the Bastard "LTH" Verbatim Azo dye-based discs. REAL BD-R are made from a phase-change material.

Your are correct. Thanks!

 

[Mike64]

i really dont know anything just read amazon reviews but so many people swore by them i had to use for myself.

That way lies madness...

 

[fleshconsumed]

The hassle of burning 40 BR discs to back up 4TB hard drive is just not worth it. At 40 x $6 it's cheaper and more convenient to buy TWO more 4TB hard drives, back it up that way, and still have $40 left over.

I suppose there are niche cases where it makes sense to burn a DVD/BR such as backing up your photos (if they can fit onto BR/DVD), but I remember offloading stuff onto CDs/DVDs back in the day because at the time hard drives were way more expensive than DVDs and man, I do not want to do that ever again. The time I spent sitting in front of computer picking what files to burn, waiting for the process to complete, labeling, shoving another disc in the DVD drive then repeating ad nauseam, I'd rather buy another hard drive. Which is actually why I have a file server in home where I store all of my media and backups, irreplaceable stuff like photos also lives on external hard drive at my work.