Re: USB or HDD as backup

If I had to choose DVD backup or a external drive that had sufficient
space on it, I would choose the external drive without hesitation. DVD
can scratch - rendering the information useless -

Put a back DVD into a case and set it on a shelf. It's not going to get scratched. Even if it does there's a degree of error checking inherent in the media handling. Not a lot, but certainly enough to deal with a few minor scratches. This is backup media here, not something that's going to see repeated used.

where as a drive is pretty stable.

No, they're not. There are considerably more risks for failure in a rotating media hard drive than other forms of media. Sure, a cheap DVD can fail. But a hard drive accidentally knocked off a shelf is MUCH more likely to become completely unusuable.

The best advice is to have more than one backup and actually try re-reading data off of them from time to time.

-Bill Kearney


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