Workin' and Blue Weasel,
This is very interesting and of some concern to me. I have been using a slow HP 8200e USB-connected writer and CD-RW media with packet writing to perform my personal data backups from my notebook computer for over a year now. The single failure of a CD-RW disc occurred, apparently, because of a power failure during a write. (The notebook didn't die, but the CD writer did.) I have created many CD-Rs, with and without packet writing. I have been unable to close a CD-R on some occasions, but the data has always been available through UDF reader. (The failure to close issue was not always due to inadequate space for the TOC, having happened a couple of times with over 100 Megs reported free on the disc.)
The backups have been performed on a daily basis, in duplicate. As an experiment I have kept using one old Memorex CD-RW which has been written, rewritten, erased, formatted many dozens of times without ever experiencing any data loss on it. (I was curious to see how much safety margin, if any, was included in the commonly stated 1,000 writes limit.)
I use CD-Rs for backup and archiving for some smaller clients. Their machines differ widely from mine, but all use the USB-connected HP writers. None of them has experienced any data loss. (And, believe me, that's incredible with some of these people. One pro bono client had six system restores last year.)
The only packet writing software I've used has been DirectCD -- simply because it came with the drives. I certainly can't lay claim to any expertise on the matter. I migrated to Windows from big iron and AIX a little over a year ago, so I just shopped and bought and used. I've just gone along on the path of least resistance, not troubling myself about getting fast drives or defragging hard drives before copying data from them to the writers. The only operating system I'm using with the CD writers is W2K, and I have been religious about getting the very latest updates for the EasyCD Creator and DirectCD software. I've assumed that this experience would be more or less common. But your advisories here, and the experiences of others reported in various message threads here and on other online forums has made me wonder about the technology and / or my luck.
I assume that you are using speedier writers than I. Do you suppose that faster writers, at the present state of the technology, are simply more prone to error than slower drives for some reason? Is there, perhaps, an important difference in the use we make of our systems while writing CDs? I do use my browser online, exchange email, and perform some light text editing while doing backups -- nothing involving any heavy hard drive access. I have my clients who use this type of equipment quit all applications when they do backups. Neither I nor my clients do any of the sundry things, like quitting AV software or other "background" processes, that are supposed to help minimize the risk of error during CD creation or packet writing.
I should emphasize that I am paranoid enough to have all backups to CD-R or CD-RW media checked for integrity and done in duplicate. Off-site copies of everything are maintained, and the CDs themselves are kept in labeled, soft-lined wallets. The clients using this type of backup scheme are all very small businesses / public service organizations which find purchasing this type of backup system to be much cheaper (and easier to understand) than tape subsystems. Their data is important to them, so I check it for integrity myself on a regular basis, and I've insisted that they learn how to do this as well. Nonetheless, I've found this method of backup to be at least as reliable as high quality tape backup systems, though obviously a little less convenient to use.
If you spot any apparent differences in implementation or behavior that might account for the difference in our experiences, I would appreciate it if you'd point it out. I don't want to be living in a fool's paradise. I'm a retired physicist, not an IT professional by training, though I've certainly had a lot of experience in designing and maintaining data systems on other platforms. All of these clients are pro bono, but that's not to say they don't deserve and need first-rate service from their equipment and their media. I'm a big believer in data safety and would not want to be placing any of these people at risk for data loss.
Regards,
Jim
