DVD Shopping tips
If you are looking to purchase blank DVDs you should check out the Digital Media FAQ. They have a list of the various dvd manufactors and the quality of their DVDs media. A very useful shopping guide for consumers.
This is important since poor quality DVDs may result in a lot of "coasters," which are DVDs that didn't get burn correctly. So, are you really saving money when you buy cheap DVDs if 20% of them don't burn right? What's the reliability of the ones that did burn?
Also better quality DVDs will last longer than cheaper counterparts. I have been burning CDs since October 1999 when my laptop first crashed and I lost almost all my data. Since then, I do regular backups of computer files and photos. Occasionally I'll do a "double backup" on really important files since as Photos or Documents that I don't want to loose. This is because while I might be using a good DVD/CD the disk might get damage because I didn't store it correctly.
The "best" DVD manufactor is Taiyo Yuden and you can usually find a good deal at SuperMediaStore.com or at Meritline.com. Most people don't need to have to highest quality DVDs, but it might be good to use these for photos or to back up online music purchases. I would suggest ordering a 50 pack and having it available.
With hard drive media being so cheap, does it really make sense to burn DVDs any more? That's a question someone posted in the dealmac forums. Well, that's a topic for another blog. In short, it depends on what you are backing up, how frequently you need to access it and how you plan on using the data.