BD-R reliability?

I'd like to get a blu-ray burner for data archiving, however I'm reading that current BD-R discs of (seemingly) all manufacturers suffer from reliability issues, I'm reading that people are losing data within 6 - 12 months of making the disc.
It seems to be a widespread issue, and so I'd like some advice please. Would it be best to go with BD-RE discs instead? What are your thoughts and/or experiences with BD-R discs?
Thanks if you can help. I'm usually not in a hurry to get answers, but I would like to place the order tonight if possible.

 

Perhaps I'll just get a couple of BD-RE's and test it for now.

 

CD's and DVD's have reliability issues at 6-12months too. Don't keep them in direct sunlight and high humidity areas like normal people and I don't think you'll have a problem.

 

I got a blu-ray burner a couple years back. I burned off some BD-REs for backup purposes. When I went to retrieve the data a few months later, the discs were blank.

 

No kidding???!! Man....

 

ZaZ, you weren't by chance using Memorex/Ritek/Ri-data were you?

 

A loooong time ago (2001?), I burned a few disks and carried them across my clients office and tried to read them on his computer - nothing.

I went and bought a different batch (Sony's) right across the street and tried again - this time verifing them in the computer I burned them in.

Same thing - nothing on the disk(s) - on his computer and on mine!

I left him those disks, went again across the street - bought a LaCie external, and have never used/trusted optical media again for backup of real data.

My advice? Data archiving is far faster, far more reliable and far cheaper by simply buying a HD and labeling it with what it contains.

So far, I have a nice collection of a HD's and unlike any CD, as long as they are not left plugged in all the time, they all still work without error.

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the reply, however I have a thing about viruses. I've accumulated a lot of data over the years (software updates/programs/patches, pictures of my trips abroad, music I've purchased, OS updates, game patches/mods, my programming stuff, etc). Most of my data couldn't be replaced if I ever lost it. I prefer something that is write once, read-only, and so I've relied on optical discs for years and have yet to have a problem (though I refresh my discs every few months). I'm just not comfortable with using anything that's not 'permanent' to store my data.
My data currently spans about 4 dual layer DVD's, and with blu-ray I could get everything consolidated onto 1 disc, which would be very convenient for me.
If someone made an external HDD with a hardware write-protect switch (software solutions just aren't good enough for me) I would use that solely for my backups, but since they don't make them anymore, I'll stick with optical. Thanks for your suggestion though.

 

Burning at slow speeds is crucial for data retention over time. I have single-layer DVD-R's that I burned in 2003 that are still perfectly readable. I burned them with a Pioneer burner at 1x on Verbatim disks. The Verbatim disks were a different color on the read side than normal, a dark blue I think.

But IDK about BD-R reliability. I've never owned a burner.

 

I think it's Verbatim's "AZO" recording dye. I've also had very good experiences with their DVDs.

 

There are definitely quality tiers in optical media. I usually place Verbatim at the top. That goes for DL-DVDR, SL-DVDR, and CD-R. Their CD-R's are amazingly resilient. Scratched, left on the dash board in the 170F temps in the car, tossed in the floorboard, loaned to friends and back, they've never quit playing or even skipped. Granted I'm sure deep scratches and a cheap player, but still...

 

I think I might just go ahead and take a chance and get a blu-ray burner. I see it's covered under Newegg's "standard return policy". I can live with that.

 

You gotta keep us informed I want to hear what you think about one. I've been on the fence for a while now.

 

I'd just get an external hard drive. It's a more cost effective solution. For the cost of a burner and some discs, you could probably buy three 160GB external drives if you want to be really anal about it. Plus it takes 45 minutes to burn a disc.

 

ZaZ is right, it would be better to just get some cheapo 160GB USB 2.0 drives 2 or 3 and make redundant copies on them

 

Well, it's worth considering. Hell, I'd really only need three 32GB HDDs, that would give me 3 backups. It's something to think about anyway. Thanks for the replies you two.

 

Personally , i'd just get a 1TB Western Digital My Book the cheapest edition.. mine slightly expensive due to e-SATA but does its jobs great.. i don't trust DVD's.. data loss occurs 50% of the time.. more reliable to have a flash drive or hard drive.

 

Instead of the (single) 1TB (depending on capacity needed of course!), I would be looking for a minimum of 3 HD's from three different manufacturers.

That is (only) a part of my HD backup strategy.

Roger, sorry, in my original post here, I thought it was implied that you would not depend on a single HD for your backups!

We live in an age of backups for backups - but at least the solutions are generally very affordable!

Especially when compared to optical media costs in terms of $$$$ and also the cost of our time too.

 

No, I'm really not depending on HDDs for my backups, but it was something I considered. I always atleast consider advice I'm given.

 

I went ahead and decided to order an Asus external blu-ray burner, at Newegg. For $200 I couldn't pass it up.

Newegg.com - ASUS Black 6X BD-R 2X BD-RE 8X DVD+R 5X DVD-RAM 6X BD-ROM 8MB Cache USB 2.0 External Blu-ray Burner SBW-061C1S-U/BLK/G/AS

 

Ouch! (I've spent $800 on a Plextor CD burner that I never used).

How much is the media going for these days?

 

Not ouch. For an external that's the best price I've been able to find yet. Having a notebook my options are limited, especially considering to get an ultrabay blu-ray burner from Lenovo would cost me more than $900.
I've been able to find some verbatim bd-r's for $22.85 for a spindle of 10 at Amazon.
We'll see how it goes. Not sure that it's worth it but I'm willing to take the chance.

 

$22.85 for all ten, or each?

I remember when BD-R media was $50 each.


I guess the costs have come down, but I certainly don't have the time to sit there burning disks, verifying them and dealing with their capacity constraints.

Not to mention labeling them too!

Well, I wish you all the best with this - seems you have all the pieces together.

 

This is interesting. Keep us posted, Roger (roger and out).

 

I actually forgot to mention this... Writing on a disk with a permanent marker will damage the disk. I've figured that out the hard way. Sure in the short run it won't matter, but long term, I've found it does. IDK why. Maybe it's a chemical in the ink in the marker or something. Printing has the potential to scratch the disk. So I usually burn it, eject it, put it in a nice plastic case that has a label on it. Then store it. Call me anal, LOL, but that's just what has worked for me.

 

About labeling, I've considered that too, but with only one BD-R to store all of my data, it will be easy to remember what it is. I've used lightscribe verbatim's up till now, I love that feature. It's a pity there are no blu-ray lightscribe discs yet.
@tilleroftheearth, it's for all 10.

 

Well I got my blu-ray drive on thursday. I've done some limited testing (no burning yet). It's loud, but it's really fast. I was really surprised by that.
The plastic looks kind of cheap, but the whole unit, especially the tray, is actually very solid.
Some time this coming week I expect to do some burning, as well as transfer all my data to blu-ray discs. I may do a full review if anyone is interested.

 

Another consideration with optical is that they are not heat/fire proof. Even in a fireproof safe temps can get pretty high, more than enough to warp/melt poly-c and cause the dye layers to run.

That the quality control on $30- optical drives is pretty poor is an understatement. About the only way to tell if you have compatibility problems is to burn media on one drive and then try to read it into a drive from a different manufacturer. There is a reason why some drive makers continue to make and successfully sell burners priced above $100. These are known and proven to work exactly to the DVD and BR specs.

Don't forget that in the recent past, burning software wasn't all that reliable either. This is where Nero made and continues to make their fortune. Be very careful using freeware/shareware burning software unless you are prepared to do a lot of write/read testing with different media and between different drives.

On top of using reliable media (hard drives are cheap as a few peeps have pointed out) multiple copies held in separate locations are the key. Different locations in the same building doesn't count. Run a spare hard drive to your office, hand it to your brother in law, rent a safe deposit box. But get some physical separation between the copies of your backup/archives.

Flash media including flash/ssd drives are still an unknown quantity while hard drive tech has 40+ years of understanding behind it. Other than estimates based on 'oven testing' none of the SSD makers can prove to us how their devices will function over the course of many years. Or even more than 18 months.

Backups/archives can only be trusted if you've tested them and continue to do so from time to time. Reading the log files created by backup software or burning software doesn't count. You need to take those backups/archives and actually read them into a machine to verify their integrity.

It's the only way to be sure.

 

Roger, I for one would be interested in a 'full review' of your Blu Ray burning adventures.

I need to get up to date on optical backup solutions - even if I don't use them myself.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers!