Price comparison: Optical Discs vs Hard Disk Drives
Posted by Scout on January 12, 2009
Let’s do some simple math. In order to store 1TB of data on DVDs that have a capacity of 4.7GB each, you’ll need about 213 blank discs. At an average price of P10 per disc, that amounts to P2,130 per terabyte. However, that’s assuming you’ll fill each disc to its maximum, which isn’t always the case.
In reality, you’re lucky to get 80% efficiency, especially if you’re dealing with large blocks of files. For example, if you have many 2GB video files, only 2 will fit in a disc, and you’re left with 0.7 of wasted space per disc, and so on. Adjusting our computations for efficiency, the number of DVDs needed increases from 213 to 267 - an equivalent of P2,670 per terabyte. That’s still cheap if we compare it to buying a 1TB external HDD at ~P7,400, which is roughly 3x as much.
So for now, I’m taking Pow’s advice and sticking to an optical drive video archive with my LaCie DVD writer. The 1TB drive will have to wait until next year when, hopefully, they’ll be cheaper and more commonplace. The money I’ll save will most probably go into the purchase of a new WiFi-N router later this year, and my eyes are already fixed on the D-Link DIR-655. I’ll explain why in a later post.
Meanwhile, here’s a summary of price ranges among different optical drive formats being sold by CD-R King:
Blu-ray Disc (BD-R) - P300
Blu-ray Recordable (BD-RE) - P500
CD-R Lightscribe - P25
CD-R - P5 - P8
CD-RW - P20 - 40
DVD-R Lightscribe - P35
DVD-R - P6 - P16
DVD-RW - P20 - P60
DVD+R Lightscribe - P35
DVD+R - P6 - P16
DVD+RW - P15 - P50
DVD+R Dual Layer - P35 - P120
» Filed Under Computers
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2 Responses to “Price comparison: Optical Discs vs Hard Disk Drives”
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i agree with you and in terms of data loss (i.e. corruption) its safer to back up files in a cd than in a sensitive piece of hardware like a hard disk.
a hard disk has so moving parts that 1 failure to a moving part means disaster. unlike with cds all you got to do is to prevent it from getting scratched or broken. you can expose cds to strong magnetic field, submerge it in water etc… and still your data is safe in it.
right. especially if your data doesn’t need to be accessed all the time, like old movies you’ve already watched, the CD/DVD option is ideal. however, you have be careful in labeling the discs and arranging them in storage. if you’re not, looking for a file could be like searching for a needle in a haystack.