On Fri, 4 Mar 2011 09:59:09 -0600, "HeyBub" wrote:

Steve B wrote:
"Shaun Eli" wrote in message
...
CDs and DVDs are almost free. You'd need two USB hard drives to have
a continuous backup off-site.

I mostly work on the same files so incremental backup on a weekly
basis is quick and easy. Though I have thought of getting a second
external hard drive and just swapping them back and forth as backups.

CDs and DVDs have lifespans, sometimes a lot shorter than one would
expect. With the larger hd's now at very reasonable prices, that's a
good way to go. sheesh, we can get flash drives these days bigger
than the hard drives on our old computers in the nineties.


Flash drives have lifetimes, too. Their lifetimes are based on usage, not
bit rot. Depending on the dye and the CD-drive, a CD can last decades or
more (or only a few weeks). A Flash Drive is good for at least a few
thousand read-write cycles.

More than hundreds of thousands of *write* cycles (unlimited reads). If you
use the drive for backup you'll never exceed its lifetime.