[JJ_SO]

For backup uses, performance isn't the most important thing here. This applies to storage HDs too. You just want the cheapest per capacity, never mind the performance.

I tend to disagree, but on my iMac the USB 2 is the slowest connection (25MB/s vs 45-50MB/s with FW800). The bigger the picture collection, the faster one can transfer it to another drive. But of course, once the initial copy is done, the incremental copy only takes a fraction of time, thanks to SuperDuper, CarbonCopyCloner and the like. Very nice is also TimeMachine, but I use that more for documents - and then I'm quite happy, if the restoring process is fast.


And the cheapest HD might be the loudest or less reliable, therefore I use WD green and maybe red, too. 5400 rpm are fast enough for FW800, silent and cool. But I don't say WD is the best as they can fail, too. But I'm used to them and don't want to experiment with storage systems. Best is, not realizing that it's working.

 

USB2 external hard disks were my backup for a long time, but now I've got a GBE box things are a little faster.

 

Having had another look at blu-rays, the biggest ones I've seen appear to be 50GB? I hate to imagine using those... 3TB HDs are a sweet spot in terms of cost per capacity and I'd only need a few of those for the near future. By the time they age I'll be moving them to whatever will be the best cost per capacity at the time, maybe 10TB HDs will be common then or some other storage revolution has happened.

In the beginning I used DVD archival grade, too, and still am doing for small, important projects - but the speed is really a pain, they are very vulnerable and who tells me while they remain maybe 50 or 100 years readable from now, there will be hardware in the next century for them? On a Mac, I can't check the quality after burning a ROM. DVD RAM are better, more stable and much more expensive and much more exotic in terms of drives. Since "cheaper is better" the drive quality has continously decreased - I wouldn't trust this kind of "backup media".