Thanks to everyone for the lengthy explanations, which are very helpful. My conclusion is that I might as well stick to CDs for now, leaving the CD drive in the present -- soon to be stand-by -- box. I have a stock of 16 new CD-R's & a similar number of CD-RW's, which seem to go on being rewritten, tho' slower than the CD-R's (CDs are still popular: my local store has large numbers in stock). I use them for long-term back-ups & for all-time archives, as well as using USB sticks, so it's only after c 9 mth (yes, I make daily USB back-ups & off-site on another machine every week). I don't like the idea of keeping all my precious copies on 1 medium, in case the Earth's poles reverse or some other magnetic catastrophe causes all the HDDs, SSDs & USB sticks to be wiped out (smile). It wb easy to copy the archive from a USB to the stand-by machine, then write it to CDs there, given the long intervals between.
The CAD saved will go towards a more costly, but more cutting-edge mobo. -- ========================,,============================================ SUPPORT ___________//___, Philip Webb ELECTRIC /] [] [] [] [] []| Cities Centre, University of Toronto TRANSIT `-O----------O---' purslowatchassdotutorontodotca
