Using Blu-ray M-Disk as backup of last resort
A blogger outlines a decentralized cold backup system using Blu-ray M-Disks packed in sealed, rugged cases and handed to trusted friends.
summary is enough The post offers a novel physical security workflow for optical backups, while the comment thread provides a pragmatic debate on the tradeoffs between M-Disks, LTO tapes, and hard drives.
summary
The author details a physical backup strategy named Holocron, leveraging Blu-ray M-Disks to store essential personal data like documents and photos. To protect against local disasters and secure the data, the discs are placed in a rugged, padded case secured with a numbered, tamper-evident plastic seal and rotated among trusted friends every few years. The approach balances physical security and decentralization without relying on cloud services. However, the comments fiercely debate whether optical media is practical compared to LTO tapes or hard drives given hardware obsolescence.
key points
- Core essential data like digitized documents and photo libraries can fit onto a small number of Blu-ray M-Disks.
- Physical security involves packing discs in a rugged B&W Type 500 case with PE foam and tracking cycles with numbered tamper-evident seals.
- Commenters debate the longevity of modern M-Disks and optical drives versus LTO tape and hard drives for multi-decade cold storage.
who should read it
Tech enthusiasts interested in personal disaster recovery, cold storage strategies, and physical data archiving.
discussion positive
consensus
Commenters generally agree that an off-site physical backup of last resort is necessary, but split sharply on whether optical media, LTO tapes, or magnetic hard drives are the best medium.
pushback
Some argue that optical media capacity is too low and dying out, pushing instead for LTO tape or cheap hard drives stored in office drawers.
Do you periodically re-read the old discs to check them? I burn a par2 recovery set (around 10 percent) onto each disc alongside the data, and once a year run a full verify with dvdisaster or just par2 verify. A disc that starts throwing correctable errors gets re-burned while it can still be read cleanly, which matters more to me than the rated lifetime of any single disc.
It highlights the critical practice of bundling parity data and periodically verifying optical discs to catch degradation before total failure.
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