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Are DVDs the Ideal Backup Media?
Each of these devices serves different needs and hence, the user should opt for that medium which suits his requirements best. Here, we explore the different characteristics of DVDs as backup media and its advantages and disadvantages especially for home or individual users.
Basic Information Regarding DVDs
The term DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disk or the Digital Video Disk. These store data in the optical format and look like the CDs but differ from them in the amount of data that can be stored onto them. Their storage capacity is roughly 10 times higher than hat of CDs. Even higher storage capacity can achieved through burning of data on more than one layer of the material present in it. These days, two types of DVDs are available in the market viz. the Blu-Ray disks and the HD DVDs. Both of them can be used for the same purpose but, make use of different technologies.
Let us now look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of DVDs as backup media.
Advantages of DVDs as Backup Media
The main advantage of the DVDs is of course the storage capacity they offer. This ranges from 1.4 GB in mini single layer DVDs to almost 16 GB in larger double-layered ones. This capacity thus proves to be ample for the home users who do not handle large amounts of data. Thus, it is unnecessary to manage a lot of DVDs. This also gives the user a choice regarding the capacity he desires.
DVDs are now available in the market on which data can be rewritten. This proves to be advantageous as the backed up data that has become obsolete can then be replaced by newer data. But while buying them one should ensure that they are of good quality, or otherwise they will allow only a few rewrites.
The DVDs are quite cheap. Hence, large amount of money is not required in buying them. Thus, they are suitable especially for home users who usually cannot invest large amounts of money in data backup. They can even be used by small businesses.
Facilities such as encryption of data are also available if required.
If one DVD is filled to capacity, another one can always replace it.
The data can be retained on DVDs for long periods of time (from 30 to even 100 years). Thus, they are reliable.
Another advantage is that the process of backing up of data on DVDs is not complicated and can be achieved easily by making use of available software for the purpose. Such software usually comes along with the DVD writers. Thus, inexperienced users can also backup their data using DVDs.
They are portable and hence, can also be used to transfer data from one computer to another.
They occupy small amounts of space.
In case of data loss, the restoration of backed up data is easy and requires small amount of time.
Disadvantages of DVDs as Backup Media
The major problem with DVDs is that they need to be handled carefully as scratches on either of its surfaces may make some of the data present in them inaccessible. They also need to be protected from extreme heat, humidity and temperature variations.
The maximum transfer rates that can be achieved on DVDs till date is 16x (here x stands for 1.32 MB per second). This is no match for the transfer rates achieved on flash drives or portable hard drives that make use of the USB technology. But then, the cost of the latter is also much higher than that of DVDs. But, these do not matter usually for individual users as they backup small amounts of data.
Even though, DVD readers and writers are being used extensively these days, they are not present on every computer. Hence, the user may incur the additional expenditure in buying the same. If such is the case, an external DVD writer may be used as it is easy to install and can be used in more than one computer. .
Thus, DVDs prove to be the ideal backup media for home or individual users in terms of expenditure, reliability and a host of other factors.