what is the best way to store valueable data/pictures in a fireproof safe? DVDs or flashdrives?

Question

Right now i am backing up all the info/pictures from my hard drive onto dvd's which i put into my fireproof safe. Just curious what is the best/safest way to store data? i have about 20GBs of data.
Should i keep it on DVDs or should i purchase a flash drive and just keep backup material on that?
If your answer is flash drives, which one should i get, and why?

Answer 1

A DVD, if it's kept cool and out of sunlight, should last around 100 years - probably long enough that it'll be difficult to find a drive to read it.



A flash drive won't last more than 10 years, if that. (An external drive won't either.)



Keep the data on DVDs. But I'd make 3 sets. Keep 2 in the safe - an extra set in case a disk cracks or gets scratched. And another set in another building. Fires *can* get hot enough to damage the data on a DVD in a fireproof safe. And DVDs are cheap. I just saw them for $19/100 at BJs yesterday. That's 19 cents each.

Answer 2

Not a flash drive, but a USB hard drive would be a better way to go. Western Digital and Seagate both make good external drives. If the data is ultra valuable, you could do both in the rare case that one of your back-up fails.



DVD's require you to reburn them every time and if your amount of data is increased so you have to use 10 disc every month, that get's old and expensive. Online is a good choice as well as the hosting company often backs there stuff up multiple times.

Answer 3

i would put on a back up site online

use dvds

and use external hard drives