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DVDs -- dual layer or single?


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Does anyone have an opinion on the reliability and lifetime of single- vs. dual-layer DVD+Rs? I'm wondering if it is safe to use the higher capacity disks? It would be nice--less need to swap media, and less disks on the shelf. But that isn't worth it if it's going to degrade quickly or be less reliably written.

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Dual-Layer recordable DVDs come in two formats: DVD-R DL and DVD+R DL. These discs are only writable on one side of the disc, but contain two layers on that single side for writing data to. They can hold up to 8.5GB on the two layers. A DVD Burner must include support for either DVD-R DL ,DVD+R DL, or both to be able to write to the Dual-Layer discs.

i think dual layer is better

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Does anyone have an opinion on the reliability and lifetime of single- vs. dual-layer DVD+Rs? I'm wondering if it is safe to use the higher capacity disks? It would be nice--less need to swap media, and less disks on the shelf. But that isn't worth it if it's going to degrade quickly or be less reliably written.

I had nothing but trouble with verifying any kind of DVD-R DL though the data appeared to be intact in spite of a predictable verification error for each disc I tried.

 

Other forums believe that writing to any kind of removable medium is planning the obsolescence of your data, and guaranteeing its lack of availability, usually in under a decade.

 

With up to 3TB hard drives as cheap as they are, may I suggest you either dedicate a RAID10—two RAID6s, mirrored, I believe, with at least 5 bays each (one for a spare if you like, or two 8 bay units configured as one RAID10 if money if burning in your pocket)—to back up your data instead of to DVDs or BluRay discs, especially given the cost/MB difference?

 

Forget any kind of tape system unless Dantz has figured out how avoid the lost header problem that eventually made me throw in the towel altogether with their products. Quantum, Tandberg, etc...all of them became landfill.

 

All you have to do is turn on your RAID10 (the safest, best bang for the buck RAID that exists, but uses many more drives to back up a great deal of data) only when you are ready to back up or restore. If your work is mission critical, run the RAID while you work and back up every hour or whatever you are willing to lose (constant backup increases disc usage, so find a middle ground among Price/Performance/Peace of mind and turn it off when the day's work is done. RAID10 is a step safer than RAID6, which is built to handle 2 disk failures at once, as opposed to RAID5 which is ok unless more than one drive dies before the first has been rebuilt (a lengthy process)...making it very hard to lose data.

 

Before you back up, please use a duplicate file remover carefully on each drive individually which you want to back up, then again with all drives you want to back up to remove duplicated among the populated workstations on a station by station basis. Who needs 14 copies of Fiona Apple's worst album backed up yet again to your backup system, right??

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