Using CD - Rewritables as a backup medium

S

steve pratt

New member
I am considering buying a Ricoh CD Rewriter, to backup my material. The Iomega Zipp drives I am sure will be too small and the Jazz drives are too expensive. I use Cubase and most songs would combine midi and soundwave data. (Note: I don't mean the recordable CDs, cause these write only once and are terrible for backing up music, as things constantly change in the creqative process.)Has anyone had success with the re-writables? Are they reliable?
 
I have a Yamaha 4x4x16 rewriter and it works fine. You can usually get CD-RW discs for about $1.50 (US) each. But I don't know yet if more expensive discs give better results.

One good piece of software that came with the Yamaha is Adaptec's DirectCD. It lets you write to a rewritable disc as if it's a hard drive (albeit slower, of course) So if you're using a PC, You can just drag files in the Explorer and drop them into the CD drive.

Remember though, that if you make an audio format CD-RW, you generally won't be able to play it on normal stereo CD players. But since you're using it only for data backup, that doesn't matter.

CD-RW is the easiest/cheapest/most convenient backup solution I know of.

Jim
 
When I do a live recording session I use my tascams and CDRW disk as instant back up. Just in case of tape failure. A couple of times I was real glad I had it on hand. So at least for me CDRW disk have been very dependable as a backup. I also use them in my computer for backups.

GRIZ
 
I've heard people having problems with reading CD-RW after a few months of storage. Generally, CD-RWs are not rated for long-term reliability.

Some brands of (non-rewritable) CD-Rs are rated, though. If you'll make backups on TDKs or Mitsuis, most probably they'll outlive you. For CD-RWs (i.e. rewritable) no such claim can be made.

So, if you do short-term backup (say, just until the current project finishes), the CD-RWs are fine. If, on the other hand, you want to be able to read those backups reliably in a few years, it's better to burn them on CD-Rs.
 
Thanks guys. Thats been a big help. Exactly what I needed to know. I'll get one next week, use it for progressive backups and burn the final progect to CDR. Thanks again all.
 
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