Tape is not the best digital medium as it is relatively fragile and
is less likely to be readable in the distant future than CD/DVD.
I keep all my images on good quality CDs and periodically select
a 'best of' which is placed on a DVD and copy. Generally I find CDs are
more reliable than DVDs and, like you, I use a variety of brands.
All disks are stored in jewel cases rather than pouches as these
can scratch the surface of the disk.
My system seems to work - I had a DVD failure recently due to a
surface scratch but, as I had a copy, I lost nothing.
I have only had one very early music CD fail due to oxydation but
over such long time periods, only fairly regular re-archiving can guarantee
that data is not lost.
Graham
"greensteak" <greensteak_at_aol.com> wrote in message
news:30be7e7c.0404280506.3233c854_at_posting.google.com...
> I want to briefly discuss an issue, another one that will not go away:
>
> How to Store Electronic Files for Archiving
>
> Each batch of digital photos I take get backed up to two hard drives
> (onsite and offsite), two different cd's (two brands, onsite and
> offsite), and a dvd. All of these can fail when it comes time to
> retrieve data, but hopefully the odds are with me. My next backup
> strategy might very well be tape. Is this the safest method in the
> relatively short run, i.e. 20-30 years? Does anybody have any cost
> efficient reccomendations for a system to compliment a personal
> computer?
>
> Thanks,
>
> GS
