HDs as archival media?

[Loa]

Hello,

I have to deal with rather large (10-20GB) files and I was looking at Blu-ray burners as a means to back them up. 25GB is really nice, but then again, fitting such large files on BD disks is not efficient at all. Most of the time I'd end up burning a disc with lots of free space left on it.

How good are typical HDs as archival media? Let's say that instead of buying a Blu-ray burner and lots of disks, I get a couple of 2 TB HDs?

While the shelf life of BD disks is still unknown, how good are HDs for this type of job?

Thanks

Loa

[300D]

I've been using external USB 500GB and 1TB drives as archives since they were introduced.

[JesterJJZ]

I use bare HDs for archiving as well. I've been told you should power them on at least once every couple months so the lubricant in the drive bearings keeps loose. I migrate my data to larger drives every couple years. I keep everything on pairs of drives to be safe. I have everything on mostly 750gig drives now and slowly moving everything to 2TB drives as I need more space and selling the smaller ones on ebay. Keeps my drives fresh and backup footprint small.

[Loa]

Hello,

Thanks for the feedback.

Is there anyway to know if a specific HD brand/model is better suited for this?

Thanks

Loa

[JesterJJZ]

I prefer Seagate and Hitachi. Everyone has their preference. And everyone will give you a reason why one brand sucks or is better than another. Just keep at least two of everything and go with what's on sale. Since it's a back up and not a work drive that will be on all the time, the cheaper consumer drives are just fine. Personally I like bare drives plus a docking station for backups.

something like these...

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/NewerTech/Voyager/Hard_Drive_Dock

and I store them in these...

http://www.turtlecase.com/ProductDetails.aspx?productid=36&parentid=0&directoryid=11&ctrl=productdetails

I have 2 of these and keep the pairs split so each case has the same drives in them. Better to keep data in multiple locations.

[pastrychef]

I'm another one who uses hard drives for archival. Personally, I like Seagates.

[Gold89]

Better to keep data in multiple locations.

Quoted to emphasise the importance of this :)