Backup
The Three Main Backup Catagories
Archival
Put in a cool dark dry place free of dust and contaminates. In the case of using Hard Drives we recommend putting it in the anti-static bag it came in.
Redundant
A live copy of your data on 2 or more media either using an automated sync method or RAID 1 mirrored drive setup.
Disaster
An offsite backup of all data. Using psync (unix command) or software that uses this command to synchronize data. You may also consider an A/B Mon Wed Friday and Tues Thurs Sat alternate day backup schedule to allow a larger step back of 48 hours to accommodate files that may get corrupted, accidentally deleted or altered.
How long do CD-Rom and CD-ROm drives last?
How long do hard drives last?
The MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) on these drives is typically 500,000 and 1,000,000 hours with a 3 or 5 year warranty compared to DVDs 50,000 to 100,000 hours. To ensure long use of drives for archive it is best to backup then remove them from power, store them in an antistatic bag. Also buy two of the same batch hard drive will ensure an easier recovery if one of the drives electronics fails.
Archival
(drive case only available in black)
Redundant
Full Setup
What you need to know about Hard Drives?
Google results show out of 100,000 hard drives 8.6% failed after 2 year (publish APC Nov 2008) so RAID 1 redundant drive is a secure way of securing your data as a minimum. One terabyte hard drives are now around the $200 aust but to have a hard drive recovered will cost to $200 to $700 depending on whether it is only media, mother board failure or mechanical. Motherboard or mecanical failure also requires the repairer to find an identical drive. This proceeder is done in a special dust free chamber or room so this is why i is so expensive.