Blu-Ray for archival storage - is this Panasonic media good?
 

Hi there! I'm looking to create a massive archive of our family data(loads of pictures, films and music), and I wanted to write it to Blu-Ray discs. I found it very hard to find any info about Blu-Ray longevity , apart from the fact that it should be pretty good, due to materials used.

What intrigued me though, are those Panasonic discs:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-LM...4926482&sr=8-1

It says on the box that they guarantee 50 years of storage. Of course that could be just marketing BS,but is there any other brand that would be better suited for archival storage? These discs will be burned, put back in their boxes and put away in dark and dry place for years to come,so they shouldn't deteriorate,but you know....it would suck if I wanted to show them one day to my grand kids only to find out that they don't work, so I would like to buy best discs for storage available at the moment.

Any help?

The guarantee of a manufacturer is usually marketing BS. In terms of longevity, using Verbatim DVD's is probably a better option due to the way the discs are made. With a DVD, the polycarbonate that sandwiches the dye, is equal in size. In a Blu-ray, the top polycarbonate is thicker than the bottom layer where the data is read from, which make them a bite more prone to nicks/scratches that can cause read errors. If you are still set to use Blu-ray, I would suggest using Verbatim branded media.
If you want to archive the data for long term and know it is there, I would actually recommend using 2 different hard drives with the same data. A Fantom 2TB drive or a Seagate drive would be excellent choices for this.

Seagate Drive:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=digitalfaq-20

Fantom Drive:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B002XITVCA

Verbatim BD-R:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B004477BQQ

Verbatim DVD-R
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=digitalfaq-20

-JMP

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yeah, but-
 

Doesn't Micronet (Fantom Manufacturer) just drop whatever drive they have on hand into their case? You could end up with a drive marketed by any number of brands (Samsung, Seagate, WD, Hitachi, etc.) and either an RPM of 7200 or 5400...:smack:

Fantom changes sometime, but uses the better drives. Not just whatever they find, like Memorex. Hence the good reputation. :thumb: