Better backup solution?

DvBoard · Jan 22, 2006

DVD-Burner, or Extra Hard-Drive?

need to wipe my current HD's and start over. have to purchase either a new HD to back it up too, or a DVD burner + media. i want reliable as possible, quick doesn't matter. Also how much are PCI cards to hook up additional IDE devices? i've maxed out my number on my current MB :bang head

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Nilo · Jan 22, 2006

As for IDE connections, that isn't a problem. You can just take off the DVD-Rom or the CD-RW, right?
You can get a good DVD-RW drive and media for your backups. What brands can you buy? If you buy online, try to find BenQ, LG or Plextor drives.
Media: Taiyo Yuden, Maxell, Verbatim, Sony (made in Japan, Singapore or Taiwan).

DvBoard · Jan 22, 2006

Nilo said:
As for IDE connections, that isn't a problem. You can just take off the DVD-Rom or the CD-RW, right?
You can get a good DVD-RW drive and media for your backups. What brands can you buy? If you buy online, try to find BenQ, LG or Plextor drives.
Media: Taiyo Yuden, Maxell, Verbatim, Sony (made in Japan, Singapore or Taiwan).

was looking at a lite on DVD-Burner, or a maxtor HD. and really it might be overkill, but if i can keep all my drives that would be nice. plus i already have one hard i can't use cause i lack the cables, so i'd end up getting that space back as well.

Nilo · Jan 23, 2006

If you're looking at a Lite-On burner, I'd advise you to get the new Lite-On SHW-16H5S, with LightScribe support. (let me just tell you that it does not perform very well with DVD-R media, but probably a new firmware will be released to address that issue).
But, as you could read, in my opinion, you'd be better with the burners I mentioned.

Revivalist · Jan 23, 2006

DvBoard said:
DVD-Burner, or Extra Hard-Drive?

need to wipe my current HD's and start over. have to purchase either a new HD to back it up too, or a DVD burner + media. i want reliable as possible, quick doesn't matter. . .

Well, to answer this original question, I would say an extra hard drive is by far safer and more reliable than DVD media. I use both and I have never had a problem with back-up hard drives. DVD media, however, can be unpredictable. I've burned data on a DVD, had the software do a verification of the whole thing, and still later I discovered that some files weren't readable. . . . I personally wouldn't ever depend solely on DVD media for back up. . . .

Nilo · Jan 23, 2006

Of course, using the 2 methods is safer. Specially when we're talking about the best brands (burners and media), which give great quality burns. But, if I had to choose, I would go for a burner. Anyway, note that you can easily change an HDD and an optical drive of yours, for one more and bigger HDD and a DVD-RW drive. That would be a good option.

shadowdr · Jan 23, 2006

Raid cards are dirt cheap and start at around 15 dollars.I have an Acard 6880,it's about 35 bucks at Newegg.I use it for raid0 but it would work as well for another pair of drives on their own.It has an onboard processor that helps with the raid0 but also makes it fly in DOS for backups.
Keep the backup drive disabled in device manager,so if there is any corruption or a dying drive it will not be affected.DVD's are OK but take much longer to write then simply Ghosting a partition to a backup drive.

Revivalist · Jan 23, 2006

shadowdr said:
Raid cards are dirt cheap and start at around 15 dollars.I have an Acard 6880,it's about 35 bucks at Newegg.I use it for raid0 but it would work as well for another pair of drives on their own.It has an onboard processor that helps with the raid0 but also makes it fly in DOS for backups.
Keep the backup drive disabled in device manager,so if there is any corruption or a dying drive it will not be affected.DVD's are OK but take much longer to write then simply Ghosting a partition to a backup drive.

Great solutions! . . .

I actually go one step further and leave my backup drive unplugged during daily operation. One time I had it disabled and it still got corrupted by a bad program. (It was Norton "Go Back," the worst program I ever dealt with.

) . . . Remember, that when the drive is physically connected and powered, then the system can still communicate with it on the PCI bus. Plus, it's less wear and tear on the drive and less power consumption for the PSU if it's left unplugged. . . . Of course, that's convenient only if you have a easy-access side panel.

DvBoard · Jan 23, 2006

Accually i do have an easy access side panel if i sit on the floor.

And i was looking for a solution that would hold my info while i reformatted my other drives to install windows agian but starting with a blank drive this time.

I plan on getting both eventually, but looks like a HD would be my better bet in the short term view of things, and would prbly be significantly quicker in grabbing the files i need instead of having to search and find the DVD i need.

thanks for the suggestions. keep the comments comming if you want, it's all ways good to hear more pro's and con's of things that i'm considering.

Kendan · Jan 23, 2006

I would get a USB/Firewire harddrive enclosure and buy a harddrive for it.

Although the safest is to do both use a harddrive as backup and backup your really important stuff to DVD and keep offsite. Or you can do 2 harddrives and keep one offsite.

Better backup solution?

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