Russell L. Harris wrote:
Alan Chandler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
On Sunday 10 September 2006 03:05, H.S. wrote:
I have around 4.5GB of photos from the past few years on my hard disk. I
have all of these as albums in digikam. I am thinking of saving these on
to a DVD and freeing up the space from my hard disk. I was wondering if
anyone has any suggestions on how best to do this.
Don't be penny-wise and pound foolish! Hard drives never have been more
affordable. If you are pressed for disc space, save yourself much time
and potential grief by simply purchasing a new drive, either as a
replacement or else as a second drive.
I agree that keeping data hard disk is becoming cheaper and, depending
on usage, much more convenient. And being cautious, I also keep a backup
of my data onto another hard disk (done by a custom rsync). Perhaps I
will go this path (have a Fedora installation lying around which I am
thinking of removing, thus will have around 40GB more available).
However, even though I keep my data on hard disk, I would still want to
make a copy archive on an optical medium. DVD players are so common
these days and cd drives are everywhere. It would be nice to have a
method to make a self contained album on a dvd disc.
Both the CD and the DVD are quite susceptible to mechanical damage,
particularly on the back side, on which is the reflective layer, just
under the paint or label. Moreover, the reflective layer is prone to
flaking and peeling with time and with variation in temperature and
humidity. And the reflective layer, unless it is gold, is susceptible
to dulling with oxidation, for the sandwich construction does not
provide a hermetic seal for the reflective layer. There even have been
reports of a strain of bacteria, said to be found in tropical regions of
the earth, which feeds upon aluminum, and which has been known to eat
away the reflective layer of CDs. Finally, any dye-based system such as
user-burnable CD or DVD is prone to chemical changes of the dye with
time, temperature, and humidity. Consequently, CD and DVD are not
worthy candidates for archival storage.
If I were to save important data on an optical disc, I realize that it
should be recopied to another one within five years.
redundant archives; in view of the plummeting cost of storage devices,
to do so has become practical and of negligible cost. (Here in the US,
a 300- to 400-Gbyte Seagate drive can be had for a hundred dollars US.)
Pretty cheap. Just yesterday, I was told a 500GB SATA drive is available
for $150 in an online store in Canada.
BTW, I just discovered an 'archive to CD/DVD' option in File->Export
menu of digikam. Seems quite interesting (it makes an HTML based
browsing album also) ... I am trying it out and will see how it goes.
->HS
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