I know that DVDs don't have the longevity of magnetic media, but I should have mentioned a few things --

Never trust your backups. You should regularly refresh any important backups (ie, archival storage that you don't have a current copy of) ... I'd normally do a refresh at about 25-40% of the expected media lifetime, if I was only maintaining a single copy. (I'd move to 50% if I had two verified copies, written with different mechanisms, to different brands of media). There are no current standards for 'archival quality' DVDs. Based on one vendor, I wouldn't worry about media for 25+ years, depending on the media and proper storage.

For sake of argument -- magtape's recommended archival lifetime is 10-20 years. And they make a good point -- the bigger problem is change in technology. (ever had someone come to you with a 5 year old tape that no one bothered to keep a drive around to read? I've had it happen more than once (DDS1, 8MM video, DLT, reel-to-reel) ... sometimes the issue isn't the physical media, but the data can't be recovered because they didn't have the right software to restore it.

For the situation described (40GB backup) ... the media costs for mag tape is going to cost him more than the cost of a DVD burner ... and if he does DLT, he's going to need a SCSI or FC card ... I just can't see the justification for it given what was asked for. Hell, we're looking at backing up terabytes for long term archival storage (ie, speed to recover is not a major factor)

In reply to Re^2: (OT) Redundant Backup by jhourcle
in thread (OT) Redundant Backup by fundflow

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