Entirely data -- but data includes music and pictures, in my
parlance.  They're disks intended to be read by computers, containing
computer files.  

I've used a wide variety of CD-R media, with the most important files
going on Kodak Gold Ultima disks.  I know I've used Imation disks, and
Memorex, and Verbatim, and K Hypermedia, and various generics.  

No doubt as any storage device can fail but the key is to reduce you chances
of data loss.  As you point out in your example, the chances of all you
storage methods going belly up at the same time are nil so when your RAID
did crash you were able to recreate it and the data.  Same in my enviornemt
as I have my data on USB drive and DVD in the event that the RAID or server
crashes.  As a mater of fact I have two USB drives that are "mirrored".
(using MS's Synctool power toy.

just watch out for chimney flu..  when that one burns out it could take
everything.

Does anyone use a remote backup service?  If so do you encrypt your
stuff first? Cost?

I have been doing some research on this & yes, there is a difference in
the brands that are used for DVD and CD burning.  Manufacturers use
differnet types of dyes with different characteristics. Some last
longer than others, some withstand heat better, some withstand light
better....etc etc. Also, remember that the store bought CDs and DVDs
are very differnet than what you burn on your computer.

IIRC, commercial music CD's use a different encoding process
(technology) than what you get with a CD-R burner...as such, you're
comparing apples to oranges.

The problem is twofold:

1.  The rate of change in digital technology is much higher than
traditional film, which has meant that the reliance on some specfic
solution will have a shorter effective life.

While there has been 'format'-like changes with 35mm, these were
generally limited to the scope of responsibility of the commercial
developer/printer, and were not disseminated down to every individual
photographer which creates a archive management nightmare due to this
splintering effect (You're on CD's, Aunt Mabel is on 3.5" floppies,
Uncle Bob is on ZIP 250's...good luck!).

2.  Merely having success in retaining the image data is not enough.
The process fails when any one piece of the process - - between the
original image and the printing of a physical print (or equivalent) - -
fails.

Its easy to merely say that we'll just use JPEG or TIFF for our format,
as these will "always" be readable by future image management
applications, or we'll say that we'll use Photoshop for as long as
Adobe is still around.  Regardless of the goodness of such strategies,
they're both assumptions that have to be tested *every* single time you
migrate forward your data to a new PC, new OS or new version Photoshop
(or whatever).

For the naysayers, I keep around a "perfectly preserved" data file from
an old Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.  Its an example of success in
Item #1 above, but failiure in #2.   I keep a copy on my website that I
can point you to and you can try to open the file yourself (drop me an
email).  Its a PPT version 2 file format, dating from only 1989, and
its not like Powerpoint has the excuse that its some obscure backwater
application that was discontinued years ago by its manufacturer....but
backwards-compatibility support quietly disappeared a couple of
PowerPoint revisions ago, which created this "canary in a coal mine"
example.

In summary, both of these factors each pragmatically means that digital
archiving demands that  more resources (time/money) will have to be
applied in order to maintain the same level of care as the historical
baseline.

And since the general consumer's current level of care is to throw his
negatives into a shoebox (ie, extremely low), what this means is that
there's going to be a huge number of consumers who are going to be
taken by surprise and phenominally disappointed ~10 years from now when
they discover their loss.   Since the camera companies are only
interested in selling hardware, they don't see it as their problem.

Since it lacks the needed storage capacity, its not a viable solution,
so how long its been around is a specious arguement.  In any event,
when we say "the floppy drive", just which flavor and which
hardware-driven format density are we referring to?   For example, over
the past 20 years, I'm familiar with at least 3 different variants of
floppy disks (8", 5.25" and 3.5"), and for just the 3.5" alone, there's
been 3 different format densities, plus at least 3 different vendor
proprietary formats, which has resulted in at least 7 different
variants on 3.5" floppies alone.  Granted, things did eventually
stabilize, but it pragmatically took a decade for that to occur, so we
need to  have some perspective in what our desired timelines are:  as
we looking to "Archive" for 5 years or 50?  Different consumers will
have different needs.

-hh

PS:  I'm currently using an external USB/Firewire Hard Drive with
removable trays that allows for a straightforward triple redundency
approach with minimized 'touch labor' overhead.  Cost roughly $500 to
establish 250GB of triple-redundant storage.

perfectly fine.  If they are stored properly and handled with care they

will last a very long time, IMO. <<

Interesting that a CD provided with Photoshop LE with my original G2
digicam just developed the inability to load the software program!
Over the weekend, the installed copy of PSLE stopped working on my PC
(unsure why) so I went to reinstall.  NO LUCK, in spite of several
tries, uninstalling, even Registry cleanup!  I had a second CD with
Photoshop LE, and I was able to reload from that one.  So I have an
example of a CD that has quit working in less than 3 years, and it was
stored in the dark, in a 68 degree and dry location, and in a sleeve
not a jewel case!

around for 20+ years.  I have music CDs that are nearly 20 years old
and
not one has gone bad, ever.  I have never had a DVD go bad.  I do think

one should avoid the bargain basement discs though but even they will
likely last a good while if stored and handled properly. <<

Tape backup has been around considerably longer than 20 years!  PC's
came about in 80's, but computers existed with mag tape before then!

I consider that a bare minimum.  It is important to store one copy set
off site for disaster recovery.  It is also good to do multiple
media types.  See my digital workflow at:
  http://www.clarkvision.com/photoinfo/digitalworkflow

I write images to DVD and hard drives. I employ USB/Firewire external
hard drives and back up my images to the hard drive. I make a minimum
of 2 sets of backups on DVD and hard drives and keep one set off site.
This means I have 5 copies of the data: 2 DVDs, 2 offline hard drives,
and on the desktop computer. I also have converted my old PC to Linux
servers with large disks. I back up images to the servers for more
copies, resulting in 3 different media/format types. This ensures
against loss due to changing technology and changing formats/file systems.

Good idea.

Roger