As I've used numerous CD/DVD before, the reliable ones are these...

The Crystal Black is an excellent performer (used it often for audio discs). That DVD+R for lots of my Anime collection. Though they are quite hard to find already (can be still bought if you can find them). Thus nowadays using this one also...

Newer one seems to be holding up well despite some criticisms from others (about the thinner recording layer). There are others like Kodak Gold Ultima 4X/8X CDR (original gold disc, not the later silver greenish ones), Mistusbishi Super-AZO 24X CDR and Mitsubishi Dyn-AZO 4X DVD-R though they are EOL'ed already. Some of my Prodisc ones (sold under various names) also survived. Many of them retained their data until today.

No need to be that careful. Just keep them in a closed cupboard (not transparent cupboard) away from bright lights as well as sunlight. Throw in a few packs of silica gel if worry about humidity.

Top layer peeling off? Is that Imation discs? What are the DVDR brands you've used?

This post has been edited by lex: Sep 11 2012, 03:47 PM

Thanks for the information, though I still don't trust these drives 100% for data storage. Perhaps its the perception from the technology differences, but I would rather stick to the normal desktop drives for computer usage...

Cap ayam brands, of course many of them cannot last long. Very much depends on the batch and the OEM also (some will degrade within months of usage, some will last longer). As for Verbatim, even though they are supposed to be the same company as Mitsubishi very often not all their media are not produced by Mitsubishi at all. They have media from Daxon, Prodisc, CMC Magnetics, etc as well. Verbatim is a generic marketing brandname. That's why if you noticed, I prefer the "Mitsubishi" brand directly rather than Verbatim. At least I know they are original MCC (Mitsubishi) media. That's doesn't mean all Mitsubishi discs are original Mitsubishi media, as they also have "low budget" discs for "picky" (cheapskate) consumers which are not original Mitsubishi media (very often from Daxon and Prodisc). Examples below...

One good indicator is the price of the media itself, as well as the model (refer to the pictures I've posted for original Mitsubishi media in my previous post about reliable media).

This post has been edited by lex: Sep 11 2012, 05:19 PM

Probably because Verbatim is Mitsubishi (both literally the same company). Unfortunately as mentioned above, not all their discs are original MCC (Mitsubishi) media. Very much depends on the batch and model your local shop brings in (possibly the cost also have to be taken into account)...

Nopes, they do NOT repair. IF its under warranty then send to RMA and they will usually send either a refurbished drive or a brand new drive. There is no such thing as HDD repair policy from HDD manufacturers. Shops cannot repair also since they do not have to the proper equipment for the job. Any repairs will require the manufacturer's sophisticated in-factory custom equipment (which includes the platter defect list mapping and drive firmware programming). If you want to recover your data, then you will have to look for professional data recovery services which are expensive (can cost anywhere from hundreds to thousands of RM)...

This post has been edited by lex: Sep 11 2012, 05:44 PM

That 512-byte format has been there since days of floppy drive. Most of the ancient HDDs use 512-bytes also...

Nearly RM1 per piece usually, even for the CDR also (roughly RM47 to RM49 for 50-pieces cakebox). Based on KL prices, elsewhere may be different (much higher)

This post has been edited by lex: Sep 11 2012, 05:59 PM

If your desktop PC has eSATA connection, then use that.

For just data storage, usually I stick to Western Digital Caviar Green or Western Digital Caviar Blue. As for casing, can't recommend much as there are lots of choices. Usually I would prefer a PC-based NAS with RAID 1, RAID 0+1 or RAID 5 setup. Those dedicated NAS boxes are cheap but cramped inside plus PSU quality is unknown (furthermore I don't like external AC adapters, for good reasons)...

Well, no one and not even myself will spend that many long hours continuously burning discs. Usually would do it bit-by-bit, sometimes daily and sometimes slowly/occassionally when have some spare time.

That's the cost of one HDD only. As mentioned previously, practice redundancy (have another one for duplicating/mirroring the same contents) which means another HDD, and/or backup to CD/DVD media. Not everyone knows about using two HDDs unfortunately. Also if one HDD fails, then have to get another new one quickly and duplicate the data while sending the failed HDD for RMA.

With HDDs, its like putting all your eggs into one basket. If that very same HDD fails suddenly, then bye bye all those data (or prepare to splash few hundreds to thousands at those professional data recovery services).

Tell me about it, keeping track of them can be tedious. At least I have a backup in case of HDD failure.

This post has been edited by lex: Sep 12 2012, 12:16 AM

Have you tried connecting it direct (via SATA or IDE) to a desktop PC?

That would be a lot of spare HDDs. Caveat is make sure all the HDDs are OK from time to time. If one fails then (as mentioned earlier) have to make another copy with a new HDD (while waiting for the failed HDD to return from RMA). Have to constantly have two duplicate copies at least.

There are special casings for eSATA connections. There are also internal ones for PCs, that features removable drive bays. Anyway, eSATA is not USB connection. eSATA is a much more direct connection, in fact very direct (because it is external SATA).

Like I've mentioned earlier, I'm not that keen into those external casings anymore (which I find them very unreliable).

This motherboard has eSATA port...

Try using specialized data recovery software to scan, recover and reconstruct your files. Make sure the destination of the recovered files in on another HDD. Depending on the condition of the HDD, prepare to wait for hours to days until the recovery process is complete...