All it takes is a scratch, on either a DVD or CD, to create errors. I would not rely on either medium as the sole form of backup. Redundency is the key. Have backup copies on the hard drive itself, off-site by sending to friends or relatives or uploading to web storage, and on removable media. For the removable media I like flash drives or portable hard drives for ease of use. Burning CDs or DVDs is much slower. The critical thing most people forget is the off-site copy (preferably copies). All the DVDs in the world will do no good if they are at home with the computer and you have a fire.
Gary Templeman -------------- Original message -------------- From: "Karl Plenge" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Since I back up all my pics and censuses to DVD anyhow, and all I will > have > > I just learned something recently that is a little disturbing concerning > DVD's. I am only repeating what I read, I have no way to confirm its > authenticity, but it sounds legitimate. > > Since DVD's were engineered originally for showing video, the normal error > checking that is part of a hard disk is not a part of a DVD drive. Speed is > more important than accuracy, because an error of one bit on a DVD will at > most cause one pixel of one frame to be the wrong color, and the viewer will > never notice that. > > Therefore, using DVD's to store data is playing Russian roulette - > eventually you are likely to get burned. I actually had a situation this > weekend which tended to confirm this. My brother has a Sony video camera > which records onto mini-DVD's. In the past, I have used Windows Explorer on > my laptop to copy all the DVD files to a directory on my hard drive, and I > could take the movies we shot over the weekend home with me. > > This last weekend, the copy failed because one of the files on the DVD had a > cyclic redundancy check - which basically means an error. Windows Explorer > refused to copy the file, even though the disc played just fine in the > camera. I am not even sure what I can do to be able to copy this disc, > except possibly buy some ripping software (don't know if this will work or > not). > > Anyway, the short of it is, DVD's can have errors that could cause you to > lose your data. The article I read on this said that CD's do not have this > same problem as they have the same sort of error correction onboard that a > hard drive does. > > It has since occurred to me that DVD-RAM may possibly be an acceptable > alternative, but I have not verified this. > > > > > Have you unlocked the real power of Legacy? Legacy 6.0 Deluxe has 92 features > not found in the Standard Edition. Learn more about these features at > http://legacyfamilytree.com/DeluxeEdition.asp. > > Legacy User Group guidelines can be found at: > http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp > > To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ > > For online technical support, please visit > http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp > > To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp > >
