A few comments on these: Joyce Ragels wrote: > Be careful of backing up on CDRW IF you plan on > using it on a different computer. CDRW will sometimes > not work on a different computer at all. > In my opinion, this makes for a poor choice of > backup. > > J I exchange backups among other users and other machines (I have several). There have been no problems reading backups copied to CD-RWs on all the various machines. The only problem that did occur was trying to use a CD-RW that was formatted for "packet writing." Most of the machines could not read those CD-RWs. Arthur Pollock wrote: > If you backup to a CD-R, once it is burned you cant > reburn it. Why not backup to a CD-RW and you can > use it over and over as your files change. > > Art Pollock This is true if the CD-R is "closed" when it is created. However, it is also possible to create a multi-session CD. The multi-session method allows the user to put additional files on the CD-R. NOTE: I haven't priced CD-RWs recently but when I purchased them a couple of years ago it cost $10 for a 3 disc package. It was possible to purchase 100 CD-Rs for the same price. A CD-R has a 700 MB capacity. If the backup file is ~1 MB, the following results would be possible: ~2 years of daily backups. ~13 years of weekly backups. ~60 years of monthly backups. Something to consider is whether there will be a functional device to read these backups, in the future, due to changing technologies. The price of DVD burners are dropping and those devices have approximately 10 times the storage capacity of a CD-R. Also there are Thumbdrives which may be much easier to use as a backup or file transfer medium. The one thing to remember is no matter what media is chosen, backup, backup, backup... The more paranoid you are in this area the better the chances of recovering from a major disaster. FL Rose