On Fri, 2005-08-05 at 09:39 -0500, Aleksandar Milivojevic wrote: > A bit off-topic. Not a question on how to get it working, but rather question > about an practical issue after you get it to work ;-) > I got a DVD burner that supports DVD-RAM (in addition to standard DVD+R/-R). I > really liked "use it just like hard disk" properties of DVD-RAM, and according > to some sources I found, the media itself is more resistant to ageing than > standard DVD+R/-R. Great for archiving my data. But the media seems to be > quite expensive. I guess mostly because all the places I found were selling it > in most expensive option: as single disc in a nice (and useless) case. Haven't > found a single place that sells them on spindle. At the end, I ended up buying > a 3-pack, with each media in bulky movie-type case (what a waste of space). > Does anybody know of any place that sells DVD-RAM media cheap (in bulk, on > spindle)? DVD-RAM was cheaper (both drive and media) back before DVD-RW and DVD+RW caught on. But that hasn't been the case since about 18-24 months ago when DVD-RW and DVD+RW media dropped under $5. Even if DVD-RAM was even more popular, the media cost would never be as low, large because of its design. DVD-R(G) compatibility is ultimate and longevity is extremely good in Disc-at-Once (DaO) mode. So if cost is a concern, then you want to use DVD-R(G) with GPL cdrecord+DVDpatch (or free-for-non-commercial cdrecord +ProDVD if that doesn't work) for your backups. In general, avoid DVD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD+R for backups if you are worried about longevity. Especially DVD-RW and DVD+RW (which _are_ MO- based, despite marketing to the contrary) because of the error rates of MO. DVD-RAM mitigates this with a write-after-verify. -- Bryan J. Smith b.j.smith at ieee.org http://thebs413.blogspot.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The best things in life are NOT free - which is why life is easiest if you save all the bills until you can share them with the perfect woman