One important reason to use CD-R instead of CD-RW is that CD-RW media is usually only readable on the same unit that "burned" the CD, and often times requires that same program as was used originally when writing the CD. This can easily preclude sharing the CD with others, but also means that you might not be able to read your CD on your CD-ROM drive, should you have to replace the unit for whatever reason. Tom

Yes, it is true that CD-RW media is usually only readable on the same unit that burned the CD. But I still think it is a good backup. Because even if the worst case scenario happens where my PC is dead as a doornail, all is not lost. I have two options: 1. Eventually my PC is going to be repaired so I'll have access to my hard drive again or even if I lost all data on the hard drive, at least I still have the data backed up on the CD-RW disk. The CD-RW drive will be operational again. 2. I buy a new PC or use another PC that is available to me. In which case I remove the CD-RW drive from the old PC and install it in the new PC including the same CD burning software. There shouldn't be any problem restoring the data. This might seem like a lot of work, but this type of scenario should be a very rare occurrence and hopefully unlikely to happen anyway. As for needing a CD-R disk in order to share data with others, yes the CD-RW disk won't be very useful. In that situation I would simply burn the data to a CD-R on an as-needed basis. The data on CD-RW disk is intended for my own personal backup & restore, not for sharing data. Allan Plucinik Colorado Springs, CO Tom Longman wrote: > One important reason to use CD-R instead of CD-RW is that CD-RW media is usually only readable on the same unit that "burned" the CD, and often times requires that same program as was used originally when writing the CD. This can easily preclude sharing the CD with others, but also means that you might not be able to read your CD on your CD-ROM drive, should you have to replace the unit for whatever reason. > > Tom

Allan All your arguments are true except for one - again rare occurrence - the failure of the cd writer itself. In that case you still have magnetic scarecrows. I used to use both CDRW and CDR. With the cost of CDRW so cheap, I save to zips and then burn to CDR. I'm not sure there is a sure fire method of being totally safe. Most of us screw up from time to time and then pay the price. I haven't backed up many of my file except for FO since the first of Nov even when I know that a hard drive can blow at any time. You still have a good system because you sound like you are doing it often. So on any medium, that fact alone will safe most of us. J Allan Plucinik wrote: > Yes, it is true that CD-RW media is usually only readable on the same unit that burned the CD. But I still think it is a good backup. Because even if the worst case scenario happens where my PC is dead as a doornail, all is not lost. I have two options: > > 1. Eventually my PC is going to be repaired so I'll have access to my hard drive again or even if I lost all data on the hard drive, at least I still have the data backed up on the CD-RW disk. The CD-RW drive will be operational again. > > 2. I buy a new PC or use another PC that is available to me. In which case I remove the CD-RW drive from the old PC and install it in the new PC including the same CD burning software. There shouldn't be any problem restoring the data. This might seem like a lot of work, but this type of scenario should be a very rare occurrence and hopefully unlikely to happen anyway. > > As for needing a CD-R disk in order to share data with others, yes the CD-RW disk won't be very useful. In that situation I would simply burn the data to a CD-R on an as-needed basis. The data on CD-RW disk is intended for my own personal backup & restore, not for sharing data. > > Allan Plucinik > Colorado Springs, CO > > Tom Longman wrote: > > >>One important reason to use CD-R instead of CD-RW is that CD-RW media is usually only readable on the same unit that "burned" the CD, and often times requires that same program as was used originally when writing the CD. This can easily preclude sharing the CD with others, but also means that you might not be able to read your CD on your CD-ROM drive, should you have to replace the unit for whatever reason. >> >>Tom > > > > ==== FAMILY-ORIGINS-USERS Mailing List ==== > GETTING THE MOST OUT OF FAMILY ORIGINS by Bruce Buzbee - FO DEMO > http://formalsoft.com NO WEB ACCESS? Write to FormalSoft@aol.com for ordering information. > > -- Joyce Ragels Tucson Arizona USA Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry. - Mark Twain

Does anyone know of a program to automatically mirror a directory to another hard drive? Have A Great Day John S. Wilkinson WILKINSON, McCOTTER, GREENWELL - Maryland DELAMAR, McCOTTER - North Carolina mailto:jwilkins@twcny.rr.com -----Original Message----- From: Joyce Ragels [mailto:jragels@comcast.net] Sent: Tuesday, December 31, 2002 1:43 AM To: FAMILY-ORIGINS-USERS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [FO] Backing up Files to CD-R Allan All your arguments are true except for one - again rare occurrence - the failure of the cd writer itself. In that case you still have magnetic scarecrows. I used to use both CDRW and CDR. With the cost of CDRW so cheap, I save to zips and then burn to CDR. I'm not sure there is a sure fire method of being totally safe. Most of us screw up from time to time and then pay the price. I haven't backed up many of my file except for FO since the first of Nov even when I know that a hard drive can blow at any time. You still have a good system because you sound like you are doing it often. So on any medium, that fact alone will safe most of us. J Allan Plucinik wrote: > Yes, it is true that CD-RW media is usually only readable on the same unit that burned the CD. But I still think it is a good backup. Because even if the worst case scenario happens where my PC is dead as a doornail, all is not lost. I have two options: > > 1. Eventually my PC is going to be repaired so I'll have access to my hard drive again or even if I lost all data on the hard drive, at least I still have the data backed up on the CD-RW disk. The CD-RW drive will be operational again. > > 2. I buy a new PC or use another PC that is available to me. In which case I remove the CD-RW drive from the old PC and install it in the new PC including the same CD burning software. There shouldn't be any problem restoring the data. This might seem like a lot of work, but this type of scenario should be a very rare occurrence and hopefully unlikely to happen anyway. > > As for needing a CD-R disk in order to share data with others, yes the CD-RW disk won't be very useful. In that situation I would simply burn the data to a CD-R on an as-needed basis. The data on CD-RW disk is intended for my own personal backup & restore, not for sharing data. > > Allan Plucinik > Colorado Springs, CO > > Tom Longman wrote: > > >>One important reason to use CD-R instead of CD-RW is that CD-RW media is usually only readable on the same unit that "burned" the CD, and often times requires that same program as was used originally when writing the CD. This can easily preclude sharing the CD with others, but also means that you might not be able to read your CD on your CD-ROM drive, should you have to replace the unit for whatever reason. >> >>Tom > > > > ==== FAMILY-ORIGINS-USERS Mailing List ==== > GETTING THE MOST OUT OF FAMILY ORIGINS by Bruce Buzbee - FO DEMO > http://formalsoft.com NO WEB ACCESS? Write to FormalSoft@aol.com for ordering information. > > -- Joyce Ragels Tucson Arizona USA Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry. - Mark Twain ==== FAMILY-ORIGINS-USERS Mailing List ==== GETTING THE MOST OUT OF FAMILY ORIGINS by Bruce Buzbee - FO DEMO http://formalsoft.com NO WEB ACCESS? Write to FormalSoft@aol.com for ordering information.

Not true, Tom. There are different standards and CD-RWs will often only read on computers having CDs using the same standard but it isn't true to say that a CD-RW will only read on the drive that created it. The technology isn't that primitive <g>. Good Hunting! -- Paul aka Graveseeker on Geocaching.com where YOU are the search engine. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Longman" <toml@direcway.com> To: <FAMILY-ORIGINS-USERS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, December 30, 2002 11:11 PM Subject: [FO] Backing up Files to CD-R > One important reason to use CD-R instead of CD-RW is that CD-RW media is usually only readable on the same unit that "burned" the CD, and often times requires that same program as was used originally when writing the CD. This can easily preclude sharing the CD with others, but also means that you might not be able to read your CD on your CD-ROM drive, should you have to replace the unit for whatever reason. > > Tom > > > ==== FAMILY-ORIGINS-USERS Mailing List ==== > Searchable ARCHIVES - > http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=FAMILY-ORIGINS-U SERS >