Using a DVD to back up data

Clarifications

Ok, yes, if you have a dvd recording device, then you can backup to a DVD. This is a common approach when the backups will use less than 4.7 GB of data but more than 700MB of data.
If your needs are to backup larger amounts of data, you can also use Dual Layer DVD's which will hold 8.5GB of data, or multiple CD's, DVD's, etc.
All you will need is the proper drive and SW for the task. If Dual Layer then a DVD DL recordable drive is needed. If DVD then a DVD recordable drive is needed.
Also media selection is a good thing. Although most DVD recorders will do +/-R +/-RW, you need to verify if yours does. If not you may be able to only use 1 type of media.
Another alternative is an external USB Hard drive, they have lots of storage space, and some come with backup SW already. These ones may actually creat 'clones' of your system as well, so that if a HW failure occurs, you can rebuild it to the last functioning state from your last backup.

However there should have been a caveat placed on the data saving aspect on DVD. I take it that you already have the necessary hardware/Software to perform this action so it should just be a matter of using the software to save your data, don't forget your e-mail and Favourite list as well as the Address Book.

Now for the Caveat there are potential problems with any recordable media and if it isn't stored correctly it can be destroyed very quickly. The other thing to keep in mind is that photo's decorate over time so if you have any Photos stored you'll need to constantly be rewriting them to media to prevent loss of picture quality.

The current advice from Kodak is you will have substantial Quality Loss after 5 years with reasonable storage practises so it would be a good idea to rewrite the data in a shorter time frame. Granted this applies to CD as at the moment Kodak doesn't have any data listed about DVD's though they should react the same as CD's.

CDRW's offer a restricted picture quality the closer that they get the the max 1000 rewrites so you'll need to be looking at changing media if you are using RW media as it becomes less effective the more that it is used but remember that this only applies to Pictures other data should be OK as there is not the same amount of space used where the errors can creep in and cause a loss of quality.

For short term storage I find DVD R/RW as OK but I personally prefer HDD for long term storage for any important data but even this has it's drawbacks and no matter what method you use you need to take precautions to prevent the backup's being damaged or lost.

Te other thing that you should do if you are simply recording the data to the DVD is to open the DVD and check that it has actually written to the DVD and not failed in the write. While not common it can happen and for the few seconds spent to confirm that you have actually saved your data it saves quite a lot more money in the event of a Hardware Failure down the track. If you are using some form of Backup Software to perform this make sure that the Verify option is turned on.

Col

external hard disk might help..comes in usb and firewire connection.

and yeah dont use caps

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