The not so old adage that anything posted online will remain there forever, is not as ironclad as it sounds. In fact, recently, our industry discovered just how untrue that statement could be. One of the biggest forums for CD,DVD and Blu-ray drives, which thrived for over 20 years, suddenly and unexpectantly disappeared. A few months ago, the “www.Club.myce.com” forum was no longer accessible and all tests, reports and much more from the last 20 years have simply been lost to the metaverse. You may be thinking, the loss of the Club myce forum doesn’t affect me as only a limited number of people were still actively participating in the forum. However, it’s more a symbol of a larger possibility. It shows us that any content online could be lost at a moment’s notice, just because the owner of the servers holding the content decides to remove it or there’s some type of catastrophe wiping out the data center(s) containing that content.

The point being, it’s never a good idea to rely solely on one type of backup solution, but especially not an online cloud that you have no control over. That’s why physical media, in particular, optical discs, are still one of the best solutions for storage of digital content. Only optical discs are write once, so the content on them can’t be deleted or altered in anyway. Plus, optical discs typically have an archival life of 50+ years and the content on them can be transferred nearly an unlimited number of times without any degradation or loss.

If you have critical data that you want to ensure you always have access to, your best bet is to keep at least 1 set of backups on optical discs. You can still maintain content in the cloud, but don’t think just because it’s on the web, that it will be there forever. One day, it could be gone and you will have no control. Instead, take control and keep your own copies.

To learn more about any of Vinpower’s line of products, visit www.vinpowerdigital.com, or speak with a Vinpower representative in your area.