8/3     Does anyone have tried using MO drives (like Fujitsu) for backup/
        archive?  Is it worthwhile?
        \_ Do they hold a lot more data than DVDs? Otherwise, what's
           the point?
                \_ No, infact MO holds much less than DVDs. They might
                   have 4gb ones now, but nothing close to the 8gb and
                   its not like you can afford the 4gb disks in any
                   large quantity (as compared to DVDs, which are about
                   $1 for 4x rated media).
        \_ What's an MO drive?
           \_ Magneto-optical; the first removable-disk technology (predates
              Zip).  I don't think they're large enough to be worth using for
              backup.  2.3 GB?  Way too expensive for that kind of capacity.
                -tom
              \_ I guess even a broken clock is right twice a day.
              \_ Yes MO is expensive, but they "supposedly" have good
                 archival characteristics.  I am wondering if it is a
                 good way to archive important data like thesis, paper,
                 photograph etc, or things that you want to be able to retrieve
                 a few years from now and are not that huge.  -- op
                 \_ Do you know a drive that can read one of the original
                    44MB cartridges?  That was less than 10 years ago.  -tom
                    \_ I am not aware of 44MB, but supposedly the 3.5 ones
                       should be able to read back upto 128MB, because it is
                       an ISO standard.
                       \_ Well, do what you want, but in my opinion, if you're
                          looking for data archival, you don't want to be
                          using a technology that few others are using.
                          Especially if it's expensive.  -tom
        \_ If you don't mind that MO drives are slow, MO disks are low
           capacity (in comparision with a DVD) and expensive and that
           most of the drives are still scsi based, MO is great. Sure,
           your data will survive the next ice age, a emp and a glancing
           blow by a nuclear weapon. If your pr0n collection is that
           important, consider MO. If, on the other hand your data isn't
           that important, stick to the cheap soln., DVDs. BTW, MO is big
           in Japan (just thought you should know).
           \_ How is DVD's archival quality?  BTW, Fujitsu makes MO with
              firewire or usb 2.
                \_ Yes they do, but most of the good drives are still
                   scsi. The fw or usb2 drives are usually the crappy
                   ide version of the drive with a low cost fw/usb2 to
                   ide bridge chip. You've got to ask yourself why you
                   would pay top dollar for MO only to get stuck with
                   cut rate bridge chip.
                   For the vast majority of stuff DVD works well enough.
                   Get the make in Japan stuff (~ $1 per 4x rated disk)
                   Get the made in Japan stuff (~ $1 per 4x rated disk)
                   and make sure that you keep each disk in a separate
                   case and out of the sunlight and you should be good
                   till blueray comes out (2-3 yrs), at which time you
                   will want to ditch your crusty DVDs for blueray disks.
        \_ I have a MO library right now. I used them back in 1995 as
           well. There is no redeeming quality. Back then it was cool to
           be able to store 2 GB on a rewriteable medium, but there is no
           advantage now. I can't wait to throw my library away. What kind
           of idiot would go back to early 90s technology now?
           \- if you are talking about this technology:
                 http://www.pinnaclemicro.com/optical_index.htm
              it is a serious pain in the ass to use. some genius
              decided to use this on a DAQ setup and it lead to countless
              problems. media integrity is useless if there is no device
              to read it ... especially when the drivers have to be
              licensed as well. if you want reliability, go with redunancy.
              that also protects against fire/theft/earthquake/mudslide
              scenarios. --psb
        \_ One other point no one has mentioned is this: how many people
           \_ The point has been made above multiple times.
           do you know with a MO drive? WTH are you going to do with your
           disks if your drive goes bad? At least with DVDs you can go
           to fry's buy a new dvd-rom (or burner given the recent price
           drops) and get all your data back.