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Thumb Drive or External DVD drive
- Thread starter paulsonj72
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Like the old non-sequitur: Is it colder in the mountains or in the winter?
It depends. Not nearly enough information.
It depends. Not nearly enough information.
In almost all cases: drive / stick.
It is much faster, convenient to read, and even might support encryption better.
From my experience, burnt DVDs are prone to data less, too. I did some backups (of not too unrecoverable data) about 10 or 15 years ago, and after some time, a significant amount of them had errors. The disks were good, the drive used was good... Yes, some time went by, but I don't trust the "life span" that's advertised. And much more expensive than an external Disk, too, today.
But it really depends on your type of data and what you want to do with it. I can hardly see any good use case for burning DVDs today; BR may be suitable - but then, usually some flash storage wins out. And you might be more likely to have a USB port on the reading machine than an optical drive.
It is much faster, convenient to read, and even might support encryption better.
From my experience, burnt DVDs are prone to data less, too. I did some backups (of not too unrecoverable data) about 10 or 15 years ago, and after some time, a significant amount of them had errors. The disks were good, the drive used was good... Yes, some time went by, but I don't trust the "life span" that's advertised. And much more expensive than an external Disk, too, today.
But it really depends on your type of data and what you want to do with it. I can hardly see any good use case for burning DVDs today; BR may be suitable - but then, usually some flash storage wins out. And you might be more likely to have a USB port on the reading machine than an optical drive.
When I glanced at the column beside the post, and saw '2010' I thought "Oh, that makes sense, this is an old thread and someone posted a reply today, so it showed up as 'recent'"...
I guess if you want to put a home movie onto disc for a relative who has no other way to view video on a TV, then I guess that's an option, but in 2019 I cannot see any valid purpose for DVDs for general purpose storage.
Just bought a new iMac and want some storage options besides iCloud 
. I also have a few things to get off of my PC that can be opened on a Mac(PDF and Word files)
. I also have a few things to get off of my PC that can be opened on a Mac(PDF and Word files)There is a good article embedded in this post from gaborious, scroll down - the long post with the graphs etc. Including link about the example BBC Domesday Book laserdisc story...
https://superuser.com/questions/374...r-long-term-high-volume-data-storage-archival
https://superuser.com/questions/374...r-long-term-high-volume-data-storage-archival
Just bought a new iMac and want some storage options besides iCloud
For regular read/write use, an external USB or TB3 SSD is probably your best bet.
In that case, you are asking for a USB 3 drive. If you want to go easy, speedy and compatible, Samsung T5 is what you are looking for here.Just bought a new iMac and want some storage options besides iCloud
Given OP talked about DVDs I was assuming “storage” == “archive” ? Maybe the use case could be clarified???
I wondered about that too. Not because DVDs are actually that great for archival storage, but because people think they are.
But s/he also asked about a USB drive, and then clarified and it sounds (to me at least) like more general storage.
If your goal is long-term data storage and archiving, I'll reckon that the best media for this will be M-DISCs in "bluray" sizes (25gb and 50gb).
You need an "M-DISC capable" burner to create M-DISCs, but once created, they can be read by ANY drive.
You can also buy M-DISCs in DVD formats.
The problem with flashdrives is that they can just "give out" after a while.
And any data stored on ONE flashdrive (only) is in danger.
You need at least TWO copies.
You need an "M-DISC capable" burner to create M-DISCs, but once created, they can be read by ANY drive.
You can also buy M-DISCs in DVD formats.
The problem with flashdrives is that they can just "give out" after a while.
And any data stored on ONE flashdrive (only) is in danger.
You need at least TWO copies.
External hard drive for mine. Actually have two, one TB and one USB3.
Thumb drives can be rather flakey.
Thumb drives can be rather flakey.