Backup v. Archive
The difference between backing-up your data and archiving your data is subtle, but important. Backing-up data is usually done on a daily or weekly basis, to account for any edits or additions you have made. Archiving is a more permanent solution – ideally, you archive data a few times a year and it remains safe for years to come.
Optical media is the ideal media for archiving. It is durable enough to last for years and takes up less physical storage space. The random access file retrieval makes finding data faster and easier. And with better backwards compatibility, data stored on optical media can be accessed for many years to come.
