For home computer users and small business owners, one of the most inexpensive and reliable solutions for data backup and storage is the DVD backup. You know that CD/DVD drive that practically comes standard these days with computers? It’s not just for playing movies and music on your computer. It is a great tool for backing up your data.

Here are just a few reasons why a DVD backup makes sense:

1. DVD disks are cheap! Therefore, your DVD storage solution averages just a few cents each time you make a backup.
2. A DVD backup is affordable. As mentioned before, many computers are coming with CD and DVD storage drives and players as standard equipment. And if your computer does not have a DVD drive, you can buy one on the cheap.
3. DVD storage lends itself to a great off-site data protection option. Once you create your backup DVD, you can store them in a safe, lockbox or other location away from your computer site. If something should happen like computer theft or heaven forbid a fire, you have a complete backup of your computer so your data is not lost.
4. DVD backup software is cheap. You can find free DVD backup software at one of the many software download sites.
5. Durability is just one more reason why a DVD backup is a good plan. The disks are easy to storage and can take a lot of abuse.
6. DVDs hold more data than other formats, save external hard drives.
7. You can use a DVD to create emergency boot disks in case of hard drive failure. This type of DVD backup would allow you to access your data.
8. DVD backup disks are, of course, great for storing those movies and videos that you can download off the internet.
9. Your DVDs don’t take up much storage space and they are easily accessible.
10. A DVD backup saves hard drive space. You can store all your image files on them and free up your hard drive for other programs and free up some resources.

As you can see, there are many advantages of the DVD backup. Of course, the best advantage of all is the convenience factor. If your computer has a CD/DVD writeable drive, why not use it? There is no sense have a piece of hardware that is not used. And best of all, often times, your computer will come with free software that accompanies your DVD drive so that you don’t have to worry about downloading or purchasing software to create DVD backups.