I find myself using DVD-R’s frequently. My most common use for them is backing up data, and of my biggest concerns relates to reliability of the media. Imagine backing up your data to DVD and then finding that you cannot retrieve the data because the DVD is bad or perhaps it is old. Don’t laugh this is serious and can easily happen. Don’t kid yourself, this happens in corporate data centers all the time. Of course, they are using tape not DVDs in corporate datacenters.
Anyway, I have often wondered about DVD media. The question that comes to mind is “What is the best kind of media to buy to ensure reliability and longevity?” The other question that comes to mind is “What is the expected life of DVD media?” I have never found an answer to these questions until I came across this article. This is a great article by Patrick McFarland and he covers DVD media in depth. The article goes into great technical on DVD media.
Patrick’s article couldn’t be better timing wise since I needed to purchase some new media myself. I ended up purchasing 100 16x DVD-R Taiyo Yuden media from Patrick’s recommended store. (Yeah, I know that he recommends DVD+R, but I chose DVD-R because it is compatible with more DVD players and I frequently burn home videos.) I am waiting impatiently for my 100 DVDs to arrive.
A big thank you to Patrick to the useful article and store recommendation. This is definitely an article worth checking out if you are interested in learning more about DVD longevity and reliability.