Are memorex cds a bad thing to put all of my images on?

AprilArchambeau wrote in post #10188755
Yea I found some, its just that bad reviews scared me, there can be 50 good ones, and 5 that say oh after a month it deleted all of my files, that terrifies me

And that is why it is wise to have 2-3 copies of the same data on different harddrives. One of the dirty secrets of digital photography is the relative impermanence of any digital data...magnetic oxides flake off; organic dyes fade; media types are no longer accessible for lack of readers, replaced by new media types; etc.

At least conventional negatives and slides could be stored in the dark, inside glass seable containers (jars, even) which protect from chemical fumes)

Unless you got hit by a hurricane.

RDKirk wrote in post #10190661
Unless you got hit by a hurricane.

not likely in california tho we do have earthquakes .

i have two copies of everything and the stuff that really matters is uploaded to zenfolio as a full size, print ready, jpeg.

ed rader

ed rader wrote in post #10190687
not likely in california tho we do have earthquakes .

i have two copies of everything and the stuff that really matters is uploaded to zenfolio as a full size, print ready, jpeg.

ed rader

And mudslides and wildfires. Where I live, we just have tornadoes, but being hit by a tornado is pretty much like being singled out to be smited by God or bad karma.

I use a variety of CD and DVD media, from brand names like HP to the blank spools sold at Fry's. Unless you're using the gold archive discs, I think they all come from the same source in China or Taiwan. The biggest worry is keeping the discs out of light, where they can crack or start to fall apart.

Just from my old backups, I have CD's from 1998 that I burned and are still readable. The bigger problem I see is how to back up data but keep it in the most generic format. Some of my older backups were done with Windows Backup, and I found reading the bak files in Windows 7 causes some problem. The CD's I burned just copying a directory structure had no problems.

Memorex is to be avoided. I have a class where students have to burn data onto 6 DVD's to take home to work off of over the course of the semester. If they use Memorex, 5-10% of the disks will have some sort of error in the burning process (done on campus in my lab), and of those I will have another 1-2% of the students that used Memorex disks have to come back in before the end of the semester to burn another copy of a disk that won't read properly anymore. I warn them about the risks, but they have usually already bought the Memorex disks when they show up to class and are willing to gamble than have to deal with the return counter at Wal-Mart. I have not had anywhere near the same failure rate with any other brand sold at Wal-Mart. Some of the Memorex coasters have huge bubbles in the plastic. I mandate that the students set the burning software to verify data after burning which catches most of the bad burns. Otherwise the Memorex disks would be an even bigger headache for me.

That's why it is good to have a backup for both HDD and DVDs. as for everybody says I will go for backing up those files to both. Let say you encounter that problem in your hard disk at least you have the CD =)

angelicscar wrote in post #10195012
That's why it is good to have a backup for both HDD and DVDs. as for everybody says I will go for backing up those files to both. Let say you encounter that problem in your hard disk at least you have the CD =)

Or backup to 2 HDDs - and keep one off-site.

angelicscar wrote in post #10195012
That's why it is good to have a backup for both HDD and DVDs. as for everybody says I will go for backing up those files to both. Let say you encounter that problem in your hard disk at least you have the CD =)

I can keep multiple copies on multiple hard drives in my sleep--fully automatically, updated as often as I change a single file.

Wilt wrote in post #10188648
External harddrives can be had for $60-80 for 500GB

Are you refering to "portable" external HD?
It's cheaper for "non-portable" external HD. I recently got my second 1TB external HD for $70 a few months ago. Right now I'm seeing 2TB for around $100-120.

Some good prices here: http://www.techbargain​s.com/catsearch.cfm/0_​11_3

Main difference between portable and not is you don't need to plug the portable version to an AC outlet.

Memorex was a respected brand of cassette tapes in the 70s and 80s. It went bankrupt in the mid to late 80s. Some company in the last 10 years or so bought the name Memorex and uses it to brand their writable media, CDs and DVDs and I've read that they use sub-standard media.

The best brand I've seen posted in forums is Taiyo Yuden or Yuden being manufactured in Japan.

From this thread, I followed this link which gives some info on companies making writable media.

These might also be helpful to you (they're for CDs but I guess the same rules apply for DVDs), Lifespan of CDR and Understanding CD-R & CD-RW - Disc Longevity.

And there's this thread that implicates Memorex directly.

FLiPMaRC wrote in post #10195718
Are you refering to "portable" external HD?
It's cheaper for "non-portable" external HD. I recently got my second 1TB external HD for $70 a few months ago. Right now I'm seeing 2TB for around $100-120.

Some good prices here: http://www.techbargain​s.com/catsearch.cfm/0_​11_3

Main difference between portable and not is you don't need to plug the portable version to an AC outlet.

Some examples of 500GB external units at the time of writing this post...
http://www.mwave.com …p?px=NT&scriter​ia=BA37691

http://www.jr.com/tosh​iba/pe/TOS_HDDR500E04X​/

The advantage of external units is that as long as your new PC has USB port, the data is instantly accessible to it. Internal drives have to be removed from old PC and moved to new PC, and you have to hope the HD interface electronics and connectors are compatible (the evolution from PATA to SATA is an example of this problem). Internal drives can be mounted into external USB docks, but that adds cost for the user.

Wilt wrote in post #10195940
you have to hope the HD interface electronics and connectors are compatible (the evolution from PATA to SATA is an example of this problem).

And an example of how it's not really a problem. It was simple to copy the small IDE drives I used to use as backup over to the new SATA drives. Even today, many years after I made the switch, it's still easy to find PATA enclosures.

Wilt wrote in post #10195940
Internal drives can be mounted into external USB docks, but that adds cost for the user.

A one-off cost. With external drives you're paying for the enclosure each time you buy a new drive. And, if the controller circuitry goes phut on an external drive there's a chance that you've lost the drive totally. When I tried taking my WD Passport apart (to use the drive elsewhere) I found that the drive was soldered to the interface board

Wilt wrote in post #10195940
Some examples of 500GB external units at the time of writing this post...
http://www.mwave.com …p?px=NT&scriter​ia=BA37691

http://www.jr.com/tosh​iba/pe/TOS_HDDR500E04X​/

The advantage of external units is that as long as your new PC has USB port, the data is instantly accessible to it. Internal drives have to be removed from old PC and moved to new PC, and you have to hope the HD interface electronics and connectors are compatible (the evolution from PATA to SATA is an example of this problem). Internal drives can be mounted into external USB docks, but that adds cost for the user.

Then you are referring to "portable" external hard drives. What I was suggesting were non-portable home units which are cheaper if you don't need portability. 1TB home unit is the same price as a 500GB portable unit.

hollis_f wrote in post #10196193
And an example of how it's not really a problem. It was simple to copy the small IDE drives I used to use as backup over to the new SATA drives. Even today, many years after I made the switch, it's still easy to find PATA enclosures.

A one-off cost. With external drives you're paying for the enclosure each time you buy a new drive. And, if the controller circuitry goes phut on an external drive there's a chance that you've lost the drive totally. When I tried taking my WD Passport apart (to use the drive elsewhere) I found that the drive was soldered to the interface board

One option is to get a hard drive docking station