SRS -

My limited experience with trying to use DVDs for data storage didn't leave me with a very favorable impression of the recovery performance available. I haven't used them enough to make much of an evaluation of reliability or durability for archiving; but most of the stuff I put in what I call "backup" is subject to recall when I need it. Getting a few specific files back off a DVD is just so slow that I can sort through the equivalent half-dozen CDs, find the right one, and have the files I want before the DVD finds the first couple of files.

The 4.7 GB capacity of a DVD is about what it's realistic to put on seven 700 MB CDs, but I can run through all 7 of the CDs, open the directories, and copy quite a few files, just in the time it takes a DVD to "mount" itself and show me the top level folder names. (I'll grant that my drive is an early model, and newer ones may be somewhat faster.)

I haven't "shopped" seriously for blank DVDs, but the few I've bought have cost me close to $10 each, and CDs - with mini-boxes - are pretty easy to find in "major maker" quality at $1 each or less. The net cost for CDs is at least a little less, in my market, than for equivalent DVDs.

An additional consideration is that DVD makers absolutely do not approve of putting labels on DVDs. While you might observe the same prohibition for "archive grade" CDs, just on priniple, I have no problems with using stick-on labels on CDs - printed with descriptive info. I would not attempt it on DVDs, at least until I've seen some reliable indications that compatible labels and "tough enough" DVD blanks are available.

With a LEGIBLE Neato label on each CD that has a brief description of contents, I can usually find the one I want without opening the box. With the felt-tip marker label you can put in the "approved label area" on a DVD, I usually have to pull the DVD out of the box, adjust the reading lamp, and then wiggle the disk around to get the "right reflection" just to guess what all may be there.

The only exception I've made to using CDs instead of DVDs is for a small(?) collection of high resolution scans from some antique photos. The scans, mostly at 600 to 1200 dpi, from 8x10 inch and larger prints in photoshop .psd format, run about 300 MB each, with a quite a few too large to fit more than one per CD. These are obviously something I won't be using very often, so I archived them on about a dozen+ DVDs.

(Essentially the same collection did require 50 CDs, discarding a few "redundants" in the CD version, and filling in the "small extra" spaces with a few other little files.)

Especially if you decide to use DVDs, I would urge you to assemble your files in a folder before you burn, and then run a DOS "Dir *.*/S>folder.txt" to create a text list of what's on the DVD and include it on the DVD. It's a lot faster to open a .txt (or .doc) file in Word and use "Find" to figure out if the file you want is there than it is to open a DVD directory in Explorer and go hunting (unless you're a whole lot better organized than I am).

John