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Re: database programs?

Subject: Re: database programs?
From: Walter Knapp <>
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2003 16:56:52 -0400
 wrote:
> In a message dated 8/1/03 1:58:51 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
>  writes:
> 
> 
> 
>>What I do is:
>>
>>1 - Record the necessary documentation at the end of the recording
>>
>>2 - Back up the raw recordings on a write once data cd
>>
> 
> 
> Would it not be just as safe to back up the data on a separate hard drive? I 
> used to back up daily to data CDs, but ended up with so many that I switched 
> to backing up on a series of external hard drives.

This is the huge flaw of CD-R, it's write once. I use 3.5" optical 
disks, which run just like a regular random access disk and have a life 
considered better than CD-R's, well in excess of 50 years. They are like 
a bigger version of a minidisc, and of course higher capacity. That way 
you don't keep producing throw away disks, but keep updating the same disks.

I consider a hard disk backup to be a convenience backup, but not 
archival. It's magnetic media, the signal is dwindling from the moment 
it's recorded. In analog this was a little less of a problem as the loss 
of a small part of a recording did not kill the entire recording, not so 
in digital.

I do use a external HD backup that's normally not turned on.

Walt




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