Which DVD for archiving?

B

bulb763

Suspended / Banned
Messages
711
Name
Jon
Edit My Images
Yes
I'm not really too sure on the difference or even whether it matters, but Nero says my DVD drive supports +R and -R for writing.

So what is the difference and which is best? I want to free a lot of space on my HDD by archiving my RAW files onto DVDs. Any particular brands that are better than others. What about best places to buy?

Thanks for your help :)
 
If it is just for files, it really shouldn't matter.
The +/- on DVD's is more around the same sort of thing at VHS and Betamax was for Video.
It is about playback on DVD players and not the PC.
 
Just make sure its one that your DVD burner can burn. A few of the older ones can only do DVD+ or DVD-
 
I've only ever used the -R type. Archiving sounds a bit scary to me. Not sure I trust them that much. I'd rather have a removable (external) hard drive for storage and the DVDs just as a last resort 2nd copy.
 
DVD +R is thought to be better mainly because it's meant to have better error correction when being written to. If you want to be more sure of keeping your files safe stick with a known brand and not just the cheapest, Taiyo Yuden make under their own brand and others and are at the mo the best around. Also, make more than one copy if your work is really imortant and keep them in different places.
 
Thanks both of you. So basically I can use either for archiving my pics.

scoff said:
The +/- on DVD's is more around the same sort of thing at VHS and Betamax was for Video.
Click to expand...

That raises another question :D Is either of these more common than the other? If I wanted to use the blank DVDs for burning films onto, which would be the better choice?
 
Agreed, T Yuden's are generally regarded as the best you can get, but at a price. If you can't quite stretch to TY's, anything using Ritek G05 dye is a pretty safe bet.

As for + or -, it shouldn't really matter for archiving purposes...I just tend to use +'s as thats what my first burner supported and never had a problem!
 
Make sure you buy quality branded disks. I use Verbatim. Shouldn't really matter if it's + or -R (I think -R has slightly wider support).

Write the disk once at the slowest speed you can, make sure you verify after writing. Don't make it a mulit-session disk. Store in a cool dark place at a reasonably constant temerature and the disk should last years :thumbs:
 
Personally I use Taiyo Yudens but I also create an MD5 hash file for each disk before it's burned and include that on the disk. That way I can check that what is on the disk is what's meant to be on the disk both immediately after the burn and periodically thereafter.
 
I had been using Ritek G04/G05 for ages, but at the start of this year I switched to MCC (usually verbatim) as the G05s in this country can be of variable quality.

In my testing (using Kprobe and Nero CD speed) I have not seem much quality differance to the burns of MCC and TY on my liteon Drive.
 
I use Verbatim -R's and burn them at 8x normally. Some people found that burning at slower speed actually gave worse quality at times then burning at an optimal speed but I burn at 8x because its a good middle of the road for me. I also keep my images on an external hard drive purely for the speed of recovery should I need to instead of hours and hours putting dvds in the machine. The main thing is verify your data for integrity when you burn it.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys. Any ideas on where is the best place to buy from?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top