Data Backup Plan: External Hard Drive and Optical Discs

In two previous posts I talked about using only an external hard drive or only optical discs for backing up your data. I also talked about the benefits and drawbacks of using only those two types of storage media.

In this post I will talk about a backup plan that includes both of those types of media to see if using them together will create a good backup data plan.

Data Backup Plan: USB Flash Drives

The most popular data backup options are probably to use an external hard drive or optical discs, such as DVD discs. These two are popular because they have been around for a few years and are easy to find and buy.

Another good a solution is to use USB flash drives. These are also available anywhere, and now come in large enough capacities that make using them for data backup very easy.

Data Backup Plan: Optical Discs

I remember a time when computers weren't even sold with CD-ROM drives, let alone recordable CD-ROM drives. Back then, everything was done with a floppy disk. Now, CD-ROM drives have given way to DVD-ROM drives. It is hard to buy a computer today that doesn't even include a recordable DVD-ROM drive.

While affordable Blu-ray recordable drives are a few years off, today the more practical optical choice is that of the DVD. In this plan I talk about using only optical discs for backing up your data.

Data Backup Plan: 1 External Hard Drive

There are many methods you can use to backup your data. In this post I will look at one of the most common methods: using an external hard drive. What makes this method so popular is that external hard drives provide you with a large amount of disk space for a reasonable price. Also, hard drives are durable when it comes to the amount of times you can read and write data to it, and they are fairly fast.

The question is, does a single external hard drive make a good backup plan?

Data Backup Media Should Be High Quality

Choosing the right backup media is just as important as remembering to backup your data. While there are many times in your life where going cheaper won't have an effect on what you purchase, when it comes to computers, however, it makes a huge difference.

Buying cheap, bargain-basement media is never a good idea when it comes to storage media. In the world of computers, you get what you pay for, which means cheap media sill usually result in a loss of data. To avoid such a predicament, always go with brand-name, high-quality storage devices. Let's look at a few.

How Long Will My Data Backups Last?

One of the most common questions regarding data backup is the lifespan of the media storing the data. It is hard to determine the lifespan of any media as how it is stored and used directly impacts its longevity.

While the lifespan of CDs and DVDs has been asked many times over the years, let's look at the lifespan of some other common methods of backing up data.

Are CDs or DVDs Good For Backups?

In a post title Create a Data Backup Solution that Works for You I talked about how I backup my data on various media, including DVD discs. There has been much debate in the past on the quality of backups on DVDs, or CDs for that matter, and whether the data will still be available in a year from now. One thing to keep in mind with regards to DVDs is that all DVDs are not created equally.

In order to fully understand how a DVD can keep your data safe, it is important to look at how they are constructed.