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gubbar924 · Fri Feb 27, 2004 1:18 pm

I know somebody who needs to make data backup on his DVD RWs (for whatever reason). But my question is, which DVD format (+/-/ram) is best for data backup? And just to make sure, DVD- is usually the format we use for movies correct? Any such thing as a DVD-ram RW? Any suggestion on a DVD rewriter thats good for both movies and data backup? Knowing my friend, he'd probably want an external one, and he probably wont care too much for the price either (long as its not rediculous).

etilena · Fri Feb 27, 2004 7:53 pm

DVD-R is more compatible with most existing drives. I personally have a Pioneer 106D, which does 4x. It hasn't made a coaster on me yet, and I'm using Ritek media. The media is also an important factor, buy cheap grade stuff and you risk getting coasters.

DVD-RAM is a panasonic specific media, I don't think that most dvd drives will read it.

You wouldn't need to worry about getting either +/- because most drives these days can burn both formats.

Fri Feb 27, 2004 8:04 pm

I have heard that DVD-R is more compatible with older DVD players, and that DVD+R is marginally better from a technical standpoint (something about the way the pre-pressed timing/tracking information is encoded on the disc).

For data backup, just get a dual-format burner, and buy whatever name-brand media (-R or +R) costs less.

SlyFerret · Fri Feb 27, 2004 8:08 pm

Avoid DVD-RAM. It isn't widely supported.

My father was telling me about the new digital surveilance equipment they put in all the departments police cruisers. The blasted things write to DVD-RAM. When the department bought the equipment, they were told "just put the disk into any DVD player or computer with a DVD drive to play it back".

Well, it was a load of crap, and they are having a hell of a time with it, and can't find compatible playback equipment. Too bad they didn't find out untill everything was all installed. I'm not sure what they finally did about it.

-SF

Splinter · Sat Feb 28, 2004 12:06 am

For data storage it makes absolutely no difference.

I have a +R drive because it was way cheaper to get a single-format drive than a multiformat

Sat Feb 28, 2004 1:27 pm

Do note that usually, DVD-R media is less expensive than the +R ones.

Sat Feb 28, 2004 1:40 pm

morphine wrote:
Do note that usually, DVD-R media is less expensive than the +R ones.

The price difference seems to be disappearing though. I suspect that +R was more expensive just because it was newer...

firerules16 · Sat Feb 28, 2004 3:39 pm

Well, I've discovered that more than the format, it's the media that matters.

I picked up a fifty pack of el cheapo generic crapolicious DVD-R's for 10 dollars after rebate. Believe me, I've burned about 5 or more coasters on that sh*t.

On the other hand, I also bought some nice Fuji DVD+R media, and I haven't burned a coaster on them yet... too bad they costed almost 2 bucks a disc...

Fire Rules

Sun Feb 29, 2004 6:56 am

Yes, you have to be careful choosing your DVD-R media. A friend of mine who burns a lot of DVDs has had nothing but headaches with some (usually unbranded) media. Direct coasters, DVDs that would burn okay but then wouldn't play/read, etc. I do remember that he had some sucess with cheap brands Bulkpaq, Princo, and Melody.

Sun Feb 29, 2004 8:57 am

morphine wrote:
Yes, you have to be careful choosing your DVD-R media. A friend of mine who burns a lot of DVDs has had nothing but headaches with some (usually unbranded) media. Direct coasters, DVDs that would burn okay but then wouldn't play/read, etc. I do remember that he had some sucess with cheap brands Bulkpaq, Princo, and Melody.

Generally I try to stick to name brands (e.g. Fuji). But I've currently got a spindle of "Khypermedia" DVD+Rs, and they seem OK so far. (The price was just too good to pass up -- $25 for a spindle of 25 -- so I decided to give them a try.)

Sun Feb 29, 2004 10:41 am

just brew it! wrote:
...I've currently got a spindle of "Khypermedia" DVD+Rs...

I've got books full of their CDRs and they seem just as good as any other CD brand out there. Granted, that doesn't have much to do with their DVD line, but we can hope.

Sun Feb 29, 2004 11:40 am

Something else about DVDs... a common problem with cheap CD-Rs is that the top coating is too thin, and tends to chip or peel off. I do not think this can be an issue with DVDs, because IIRC the data layer is actually sandwiched between two fairly thick layers of plastic, instead of being on one side with just a thin topcoat.

gubbar924 · Sun Feb 29, 2004 7:03 pm

but I've heard that DVD-ram discs last longer or something like that and can be used more

any ideas on that?

Sun Feb 29, 2004 7:07 pm

That is because with DVD-RAM the disc is inside a little caddy that protects it from damage, just like on a floppy disk. The compatability is not that great with other drives, and you have to take it out of the caddy to be able to do that.

ThelvynD · Wed Mar 03, 2004 5:38 pm

I've been using DVD+RW and DVD+R media for awhile now and haven't seen a single disc give me any problem. Where as I did coaster a DVD-R a couple weeks ago.

atidriverssuck · Sat Mar 20, 2004 12:33 pm

SlyFerret wrote:
Avoid DVD-RAM. It isn't widely supported.

My father was telling me about the new digital surveilance equipment they put in all the departments police cruisers. The blasted things write to DVD-RAM. When the department bought the equipment, they were told "just put the disk into any DVD player or computer with a DVD drive to play it back".

Well, it was a load of crap, and they are having a hell of a time with it, and can't find compatible playback equipment. Too bad they didn't find out untill everything was all installed. I'm not sure what they finally did about it.

-SF

hehe. It's not hard to avoid since the media costs heaps, relatively-speaking. It has some compelling advantages tho, like saving directly to the disc in a hd-like fashion (rawks!) and it is gaining more acceptance recently, since it was approved by the DVD Forum. There are several drives out that read DVD-RAM now.

azbk51 · Sat Apr 10, 2004 10:32 pm

but dvd-ram is double sided,
i know dual layer is coming out soon,
but dvd-ram can store 4.7 Gig on each side.
which makes it 9.4 Gig :wink:

Sat Apr 10, 2004 11:47 pm

azbk51 wrote:
but dvd-ram is double sided,
i know dual layer is coming out soon,
but dvd-ram can store 4.7 Gig on each side.
which makes it 9.4 Gig

Yeah... and the DVD-RAM media costs more than 2x what DVD+/-RW media costs. So unless you really need 9.4 gig per disc for some reason, DVD-RAM doesn't make much sense.

Krogoth · Sun Apr 11, 2004 1:19 pm

DVD-RAM also has the advanage of allowing you to read and write on the fly. Unlike, DVD +/- RWs where you have to erase the disc first in order to write over it again. Unfortunely, DVD-RAM is rarer, more expensive and not widely supported by DVD players and drives. These days there's no real outright advanage that DVD +/- have over each other. DVD-R/RWs are slightly more compatible while, DVD+R/RW right now have higher burning speeds for most of multi-format drives out there.

atidriverssuck · Sun Apr 11, 2004 7:24 pm

just brew it! wrote:
azbk51 wrote:
but dvd-ram is double sided,
i know dual layer is coming out soon,
but dvd-ram can store 4.7 Gig on each side.
which makes it 9.4 Gig

Yeah... and the DVD-RAM media costs more than 2x what DVD+/-RW media costs.

I'd love to find it for so little. Here it's 5x the cost, minimum.

Forge · Sun Apr 11, 2004 8:27 pm

If you have one nearby, CompUsa has a 25 pack of 4X DVD+R's from Memorex. I grabbed three spindles and am quite happy, have a few hundred Memorex DVD+R's burned here, two coasters total (one user error [no overburning or you be fooked], one real coaster).

DVD+R seems to have the brightest future (8X DVD+R available widely, DVD-R 8X doesn't even have an official spec yet).

DVD-RAM is the easiest to work with, as long as the machine has a DVD-RAM drive to read with (writing stray files to a DVD-RAM in DOS is the win!).

DVD-R seems to have marginally better compatibility with older set top and DVD-ROM drives.

It's a toss-up, I went +/- just to be safe.

Krogoth · Mon Apr 12, 2004 7:26 am

I have a bunch of TDK 4x DVD+Rs here, that my PX-708A can easily burn at 8x without any coasters.

diosnoche · Wed Apr 21, 2004 5:44 am

Media is more important. I have the worst luck with Memorix DVD blanks, while I have best performance with no name brands. I bought a 25-pack spindle of non-labeled, princo 4x DVD-R for $40 CDN with no problems. On the weekend I bought a 25-pack spindle of Pine 4x DVD-R for $32 CDN with no probs yet either. However, I only get problems when I burn at 4x. The media will burn fine, but the disc will be dedicated only to the writer; nothing else will read the disc, not my home DVD player, or my Dell Latitude.

As long as I burn the disc at 2x, I will have no problems. I have not tried using DVD+R yet. I am using ASUS DRW-0402P/D DVD+/-RW

Forge · Wed Apr 21, 2004 8:29 pm

I've had nothing but success with Memorex DVD+R/+RW/-RWs. Haven't tried any of their DVD-R's, but I have over three hundred successful 4X burns on their DVD+R's. Not one coaster to date, user error excepted.

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