Blu-ray Backup possibility - David Yin's Blog

I have all my pictures and videos on my desktop PC and NAS back from the year 2001. It is an archive for my children and my own life.

I am always thinking about doing an offline backup. I used to back up these data on mini-CD. And put into a bank safer. Later I was not using the bank safer. So no more offline backups.

Now it is much more important for me to do the backup. My kids are growing. Grace is in her 20’s. Gloria is Grade 12. Gabriel is still young. I have to prepare for the backup. I can afford to lose these old pictures in a wonderful time.

So, Blu-ray Backup is coming to my sight.

The DVD is not bigger enough. High-quality picture files are so big. I still remember my first digital camera, Fujifilm FinePix 2400 Zoom, which has 2 megapixels. I bought it in Oct 2001. The very first picture is 1600X1200. It is about 300KB.

My recent new digital camera is a Sony A3000. It has 20 megapixels. The picture file is above 5MB each.

I did not mention the video file.

Today’s price on Amazon.com, mostly Amazon’s Choice.

As of Sep 2020	DVD-R/DVD+R	DVD+R DL	BD-R 25	BD-R 50	SSD 2,5″	SSD 2,5″	HDD 2,5″	HDD 3,5″
Max. speed	16x (22.16 MB/s)	8x (11.08 MB/s)	16x (68.6 MB/s)	6x (27 MB/s)
Capacity	4.7 GB	8.5 GB	25 GB	50 GB	480 GB	1TB	1TB	2 TB
Average price per medium	$0.25	$0.74	$0.76	$3.04	$54.23	85.99 $	$47.49	$54.99
Average price per GB	5.3 Cents	8.8 Cents	3 Cents	6 Cents	11.3 Cents	8.5 Cents	4.7 Cents	2.7 Cents

Obviously, the BD-R is much more compatible to others on price.

The manufacturer said Blu-ray disk can keep data one hundred years. Even I don’t have that good storage condition. I am sure it can last for 50 years.

For every month backup, I will usee the regular BD-R disc. It may be replaced time by time. I am not going to keep it forever.

For a long term backup or lifelong storage, I will prefer M-Disc.

Based on the Wikipedia:

M-DISC’s design is intended to provide greater archival media longevity. Millenniata claims that properly stored M-DISC DVD recordings will last 1000 years. The M-DISC DVD looks like a standard disc, except it is slightly thicker and almost transparent.

For example, Verbatim M-Disc BD-R 25GB with Branded Surface – 5pk Jewel Case is about $15.85 on Amazon.com.