Hi, What is the best way to back up mp3s? I have a DVD+R/+RW drive and am thinking of using Nero InCD along with DVD+RW discs to back up my 16GB+ collection of mp3s. Is this the best way to go? Would using DVD+RW be safer than using CD+RW?
Thanks.

Using optical media for backup purposes has been discussed before (-> search function). Conclusions (IIRC):

- CD-R and CD-RW media aren't reliable and start loosing data after a few years, in some (many?) cases even after some months.

- About DVD media it's hard to tell as they haven't been arround a long time. In theory DVD contains more error correction data than CD (=better) but OTH the data density is higher, so similar damages will destroy more raw data (=worse).

- Using HDDs for backup (and storing them separately) is worth considering as price/GB isn't much higher than for optical media

- For CD/DVD storage it's a good idea to
-- add error recovery data (e.g. PAR2).
-- do each backup twice on different media (brand).
-- scan backups for errors regularly. When the 1st problems occur, copy to HDD using programs like CD Check or CD Data Rescue, restore remaining errors using the PAR2 archives and burn a new backup.

Maybe some of this information is outdated (especially about reliability of DVD-R(W).

Another item to add about burning to any kind of optical media (Well, CD/DVD, at any rate): Packet Writing and MultiSession burning can be rather fragile, so it is best to store up enough until you can fill up a whole disc and then burn the entire thing at once.