Which
storage is best, what is DVD-RAM and why not DVD-ROM? How
about CD-R or is CD-RW better?
First
thing is to get rid of all your legacy storage such as Zip, Jaz,
and Pinnacle Micro Apex
disks, as well as all those old 230 MB MO optical disks. Why? Although
the disks may last for several decades the drives (and drivers)
won't. The next generation of computers may not be able to play
such antiquated disks (look what happened to the 5 1/4 inch floppy
disks).
2nd,
use a CD burner to send files to other people. Don't waste money
with a Zip. With a 12x or at least an 8x CD-R burner with the new
Toast software you can burn a CD in about 15 minutes; a CD disk
costs only about $1. Actually the newest 12x CD-R burners also include
a CD-RW burner in the same unit (burns CD-RWs at perhaps 4x). So
if you have an old CD burner that takes 20 minutes (4x CD-R) then
it is time to give that to your kids or donate it to charity and
buy a faster one. Don't worry if you can't find a 12x burner; 8x
are plenty fast.
See
if you can find the new 800 MB CD-R disks (careful, most are for
audio; you want them for holding digital photographs). The 800 MB
CD-R disks replace the normal 650 MB disks. I have burned generic
Maxell CD disks (on bulk spindles) at 8x burn speed and rarely get
a failure. If you burn at 12x, test a few disks first to make sure
these disks can handle 12x burn speed before you buy an entire spindle
of 100 bulk disks. 12x speed burners with 12x certified media work
just fine, but if you are cheap like I am you want to use the less
costly generic CD disks.
3rd,
start getting used to DVD-RAM, the international standard
now for several years. Why DVD-RAM and not DVD-ROM? Because a DVD-ROM
burner costs over $5,000 whereas you can buy a DVD-RAM burner for
$700 or less.
Current
generation of DVD-RAM holds 5.2 GB (2.6 GB per side). DVD-RAM player/burners
are readily available. These are based
on PD technology which was perfected
over several years, which means that DVD-RAM
have a reliable history behind them. The next generation of DVD-RAM
will bold over 9 GB (half on each side).
Several
IBM disks we had did not function out of the box; our RAID system
of Seagate Cheetah disks failed repeatedly causing considerable
data loss. For these reasons we now use, and recommend, Quantum
drives. Colleagues have found that Quantum drives actually move
data faster than IBM drives, even when the IBM claim faster speed.
Nonetheless Seagate is a known name and surely most of their drives
work just fine. They have a 5 year warranty so if a Seagate Cheetah
satisfies the power user in your inner soul, then Seagate is the
way to go.
Where
is a reliable place to buy reliable storage equipment?
You can get Quantum drives in many sizes and forms at MegaHaus.
You can get DVD-RAM,
CD-R, CD-RW (and multi-mode drives with both CD-R plus CD-RW all
in one unit) at MegaHaus.
Prices
at MegaHaus are more reasonable than elsewhere. MegaHaus has been
around for years and is a place you can get the storage devices
that you need for your solution. Whether you need just one extra
hard disk or an entire RAID system, MegaHaus can provide exactly
what you want.
The
Japanese Ministry of Education provided a substantial grant for
Dr Hellmuth to come to Japan and work out the best digital imaging
solution for Japan's National Museum of Ethnology. As Visiting Professor
in Osaka Hellmuth worked for 6 months to find the best solution.
Simultaneously
Nicholas's institute, the FLAAR Photo Archive, received a grant
of $100,000 from an American foundation for a feasibility study
to work out how best to transform a photography archive of slides
and negatives into digital media.
Since
then Professor Hellmuth has attended the leading computer trade
shows in America (Comdex) and the even larger computer trade shows
in Germany (CeBIT) as well as the digital printing and photography
trade shows (PMA, DRUPA, and Photokina).
So
if you need to figure out what computer storage to use for your
digital images, you can take advantage of Nicholas's experiences
(and save yourself from having to spend 4 years and a quarter of
a million dollars of research).
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