Backing up CD / DVD Media

[Basil Chupin]

On 11/09/2010 22:38, Amichai Rotman wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I have a bunch of DVDs and CDs I'd like to back up in case the media 
> is damaged (scratches and such).

First question: are these originals or already copied, burnt, copies 
onto CDs/DVDs?

Original CDs/DVDs are pressed onto the medium and not burnt to a 
chemical layer(s).

If they are originals then unless you go scratching them and otherwise 
abusing them then they should be OK for quite some years.

On the other hand if they are already copied/burnt onto CDs/DVDs then 
why not simply copy them again (using K3 for example) to other, good 
quality, CDs/DVDs?

Simply copy them without any ISO-ing stuff involved: KD3 - Copy Medium.

On the other hand, if you are working with DVDs then using K9Copy would 
be the way to go. More on this if you want more info....

The cost of CDs is now next to nothing for each disc. DVDs almost the 
same but it depends on whether you are using DVD5 or DVD9 (dual layer).

For CDs, TDK are very good. For DVDs, Verbatim (they are one of the two 
manufacturers who have developed a special process for their DVDs - see 
info in DVD related URLs).

While these manufacturers claim that their discs will last something 
like 75 years as a minimum, I would re-copy the discs in about 5 years. 
And by which time the technology would have changed so that you will 
need to do this anyway because the CD/DVD player would be a dinosaur and 
the copies would have to be made onto some other, probably some 
biological, medium.

Already now you have the memristor in the works which is due to be 
around 2013 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11165087.

RE using an HD, the way that they are now constructed with massive 
compression of data into an ever decreasing platter space for what 
'they' are trying to cram into that space, even with using vertical 
writes instead of the "old" horizontal writes, as a long term storage 
medium I am not sure that an HD is the way to go. For example, I bought 
2 HDs at the end of last September. One of them simply stopped working 
without any indication of any problems - S.M.A.R.T and all! - a couple 
of weeks ago and I cannot have it replaced under the 3-year warranty 
because it contains sensitive information.

You could use USB flash discs but you would need to look VERY carefully 
at them to choose a brand which is not only fast on both read/write but 
MAINLY on how long they are warranted for. Something like a Corsair is 
warranted for 10 years but something like a Kingston is for only 3 years 
(and it is slow); other brands are not only slower but also are 
warranted for 2 years. And if you want something like a Corsair, they 
are not cheap - keeping in mind that we once had the USB v2.0 protocol 
but now are starting to have the v3.0 which, as usual, increases the 
cost of v3.0 flash discs while the manufacturers recoup their 
manufacturing setup costs....

Of course, there is also the tape backup option.

The bottom line is: consider how important your CDs/DVDs are, how much 
do you want to spend in preserving the info over the years, and how much 
time you are prepared to do all this.

Just as an example, in support of my argument to use CDs/DVDs, I 
recorded my 1970's vinyls (Herbie Mann, War, Billie Swan, Pink Floyd, 
etc :-) ) to CDs many years ago. They play without a glitch even though 
they have been burnt onto a chemical based CD.

Oh, one other comment: do you want to compress your CDs into, say, mp3 
format or keep them at their original sound quality? This will influence 
on what you would use to store your precious CDs (DVDs - well, you 
wouldn't want to chop them down from the original quality, would you?)

BC


>
> I was thinking of using the dd command to create ISO images and keep 
> those ISOs on an external HD I can tuck away someplace safe.
>
> So, I'd pop the disc in the drive and after it mounts I go to the 
> terminal and enter something like:
>
> dd if=/dev/sr0 of=/whatever.iso
>
> I wanted to make sure I am on the right path and maybe there is a 
> better way to do this. I's love your input on this.
>
> The idea is to have the ISO somewhere safe, in case the CD / DVD 
> becomes unusable, I just pop a blank media to the writer and burn the 
> ISO to it...
>
> Thanks!
>
> .:====================================================:.
>
> Amichai Rotman
>
> Registered Linux User#: 201192 [http://counter.li.org/]
> Registered Ubuntu User #12851 [http://ubuntucounter.geekosophical.net]
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> .:====================================================:.
>


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