lol..don't have a clue why i opened your post...i do well to try and download the camera onto snapfish!

hope you find a fellow photog to help!

If you're archiving photos, would it make sense to categorize them and zip into separate files? You can get more onto any storage device that way. The only inconvenience is you have to unzip them to view.

We have a separate external hard drive for storing photos.

I'm not a computer whiz, but I have backed up photo and music files on DVD.

Blank CDs come as CD-R or CD-RW. The first is "Record," the second is "Rewrite" (your can record over what you already recorded).

DVDs however, are a different animal altogether. In addition to storing much more than a CD (740MB for a CD, 4.7GB for a DVD), there are competing technologies. Similar to VHS and Beta video tapes.

So, first and foremost, you need to ensure that you purchase the proper type of DVD for your burner, otherwise you won't be able to burn anything onto it at all.

And, yes, you can burn music, video, photos, or data files to a DVD.

I would actually recommend getting an external hard drive. The price has come down so much on those! You can get a quite large (volume) one for not much $$$.

DVD's and CD's are not always the best option for storage. Some brands are much better than others, but they are finding that many fail to read after not very many years.

I have a 500GB external drive that I paid less than $50 for. I have seen 1T drives for around $80.

These newer drives are extremely small - about the size of a deck of cards, so they are VERY portable.

I just "copy & paste" my picture folders onto the hard drive. I then make sure I unplug it from the computer in case of power surge or lightening strike.

These newer drives do not need an external power source either - just plug into the USB and go.

I like flash drives for convenience. They are more expensive than external hard drives, but small enough to be easily stored. I have several 64Gb and I can keep them in my safety deposit box.

Another option would be to use one of the cloud storage services. Then you could upload and download at your convenience. I'm too much of a control freak to be comfortable with cloud services, but lots of people use them happily.

To answer your question, it'll depend on the drive. Many DVD drives are also CD writable. Mine is. Having no idea what you have I couldn't really give a better answer than that. I burn CDs all the time on my DVD unit.

Keep in mind that there is no permanent storage media out there. All disks, whether they be "floppy", optical (CD/DVD) or "hard" have a limited life span and are prone to dying at a bad time. You need to back up in multiple methods if you want something around for the future. Even the internet is a dubious method for backup since websites go down (out of business) all the time and they're using hard drives to back up too so you're at the mercy of their backup.

I like using a rotating USB drive system for most of my incremental backups and I use a 250 gb and 1TB external drive for occasional full system backups.

Oops, just noticed it's DVD/CDRW. You should have no problem doing what you want to do, but I still suggest you consider a different backup system if the files would cause pain if lost.

I currently have a 250GB and a 500GB external hard drive plus about 350 CD's full of photos and I have a 1TB external which I am using now but I was just toying with the idea of using DVD's instead of CD's.

Sounds like you have storage solutions wrapped up. You certainly can use DVDs and will get more storage on them.

I agree with cynic that there may not be a permanent solution (everything breaks, right?). If money is no object, look into a solid state external hard drive. That type of drive should last forever.

Format a DVD as a data drive and then it can be used just like any other floppy disk, hard drive, or thumb drive.

Side note: My Genealogy class instructor advised us to switch from CDs to DVDs because CDs will soon loose favor and will be phased out. In the future, say 10 years, drives that can read and write CDs will disappear.

Use archival quality DVDs for files you intend to keep for a long time.

I again remind you there is NO true "permanent" storage system. The DVD is no more a long term storage "solution" than the 8" floppy, 5-1/4" floppy, 3-1/2" floppy, Zip drive, LS-120, CD, CDRW, punchcards, U-matic tape, VHS, Beta(max), 8 track, LP album, cassette or any other storage media. Even the pen and paper doesn't last forever although the paper "technology" will be more universal far longer than any other "technology". Technology changes. 10 years ago was different than today and 10 years from now will likely be much different than today.

I'll venture to say it's not going to be more than a few years when a DVD of today will be considered a tiny and limited use item since the size of data to be stored is growing exponentially. Since CD and DVD is essentially the same technology, when one disappears, the other will logically soon follow. Put all your eggs in one basket if you wish, I shan't!

So.... has anyone backed up their data recently?

I back up my data frequently! I know how fast something can (and will) fail!

Back those pictures up everybody! I try to keep my data on the most "current" type of storage device - so that way when next newest biggest fastest whatchamajigger is developed, I can easily transfer to that.