Burning CD and DVD still a good way to backup files?

[froggyboy604]

Yes, since CD are less likely to get stolen by robbers since burned DVD-R or CD-R are pretty useless unless they contain private information or videos 😎 A external hard drive or back up server might look more appealing to some "Smash and grab" home invaders.

Plus, Optical media won't be destroyed by "very" strong magnetic waves and EMP attacks : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse which can destroy hard drives and many other electronic devices. One of my greatest fears is a terrorist unleashing a EMP bomb on my town since it can mean being back in the "dark ages" for a few months.

External Hard drives also tend to break if they are drop from a high hieght or are zaped by a strong power surge like lightning from a thunder storm, so if your PC and external drive are both zapped by the same storm. Your files might be gone for good.

DVD-R are also very cheap 100 DVD-R only cost 20-30 dollars if you buy them online or at a computer store.

 

[Justin M]

I keep my external hard drive in a safe when I'm not using it.

 

[SL7]

External hard-drives are the best, but CD's, USB's and all forms of different storage devices work, there isn't really much difference other than size and space.

 

[froggyboy604]

Online backups look like a good option, but my web hosting and ISP company probably will dissconnect me if I upload 300 GB of files since I'm only allowed to upload 20GB.

I just read on other forums where people lost all their homework because their external drive got fried by a power surge or they accidently snaped off the USB plug.

What I like about optical media is they are less vulnerable to power surges.

I like to backup my files to DVD, Hard drive, and very important files like "homework or family photos" to my FTP server, dropbox, mozy free, windows live drive.