For large amounts of data, are there any other reasonable options besides a hard-drive for backing up? 
 
We used to have backup tapes, the CD's, DVD's, online, etc.  But I'm talking about something like my all of my music (currently 2.1 TB).  It just seems weird to have the backup be on the same media that you're hoping doesn't fail... (plus I don't feel all that comfortable knowing it can just be written over by someone).
 
Right now, I'm thinking I might have to just buy another 3 TB hard drive, put the backup on that, then put it into a fire-proof safe.

Wow, it's been awhile since I've done a search and, apparently, you can get blu-ray burners that handle 54 GB now with some optical media being able to hold much more coming...  Of course, buying a burner and two stacks of 50 GB media (25 packs) would cost me $240 while I can find 3 TB hard drives for about $150.  Copying 40 discs would be a pain, but I would think they would be safer than a hard drive - don't know...

Just think of the time its going to take backing up to optical media.  And how many discs you are going to use.  Once you use the discs you can't use them again so there is also the continuing cost of the expensive blu-ray media.

A separate hard drive or even two separate hard drives is a better option.  I use Acronis and I have two separate hard drives (one internal and the other a USB3.0 connected external drive) and alternate the backups between the two drives.  If one drive would fail I still have the backup from the other. 

I have 5 hard drives in total - 3 internal & 2 external.

Both externals are used for backups on a round robin basis 

I don't even want to count how many hard drives I actually have (probably 30+), but how many of those are still usable is the real question!  A 40GB is almost a waste now.

While I realize that once the optical media is written on it can't be written on again, that's actually one of the qualities I'd want in a long-term backup.  Perhaps I'm calling this the wrong thing (since I have and do backups using only hard drives).  What if I use the term Archives instead?  I want to save something so I'll always know I have it.  These would be locked in a fire-proof safe and may not be needed for years.

I guess I just don't trust hard drives for that purpose...  Oh well.  I just saw that one company is coming out with a 1TB optical drive, but the media is too thick to fit in the current Blu-Ray burners.  Maybe I'll just have to get another hard drive and use that until they nail down larger opticals?

Optical media is not "forever".  How long depends on many factors including the actual media, how its stored, etc. 

I worked a problem on the Dell forum about a year ago.  The user had some audio CD's that were burned at various times over the previous 4 or 5 years.  Some would not play on the new PC, not because of how they were burned, but because of age and probably the quality of the optical media.  4 or 5 years isn't much, but something to consider.

I think USB 3 is your friend. I am now using 3 TB USB3 external hard drives for backup.  I caught a sale and picked up several.

fireberd


Optical media is not "forever".  How long depends on many factors including the actual media, how its stored, etc. 

I worked a problem on the Dell forum about a year ago.  The user had some audio CD's that were burned at various times over the previous 4 or 5 years.  Some would not play on the new PC, not because of how they were burned, but because of age and probably the quality of the optical media.  4 or 5 years isn't much, but something to consider.

Oh I know that more than most!  I had all of my work saved on this new format called a PD/CD (Phase Digital) drive.  As far as I know, my stuff is still on there, but no one has the means to get it off...  *Sigh*