My experience with MO disks was great -- well worth the effort!
Purchased my first MO drive in 1996 (640 MB 3.5", compatible with 230 MB cartridges among others). After a couple of years, this unit became somewhat unreliable (but still usable!) so I purchased another one, Fujitsu branded -- working great last night.
MO media is absolutely reliable -- my first disks from 1996 have worn labels with almost unreadable lettering... but the contents read just fine, like day 1! The only problems I ever had were from the ocassional SCSI-termination issue, drive failure and an unfortunate system crash xx( that's why I keep the disks locked unless I need to write to them!
I mostly have backups on them, but also "large" (by the stantards of the day) files, like QT movies and big scans -- plus experimental / emergency systems. Most of my content is in DiskCopy images with checksum, so I can always verify data integrity
I like using the drive: compact, quiet and snappy performance -- seek times are slower than a HD, but still a lot faster than CDs. Another great thing is the plug-and-play feature: in the SE/30 or other computers without any driver installed, I just put a formatted disk in the drive, wait a few seconds for it to spin up, and then turn on the Mac -- driver from the disk is loaded at once. In fact, I'd like to get an OS X-compatible USB (or FireWire!) drive, it would make a convenient bridge between my modern and vintage computers.
Anyway, for your backup needs, I'd recommend a couple of HDs -- I'd never trust a single copy! (unless it's on MO, of course)
BTW, I'm currently in an altruist task as Sound Engineer wannabe, and I'm recording on... MiniDisc.
Purchased my first MO drive in 1996 (640 MB 3.5", compatible with 230 MB cartridges among others). After a couple of years, this unit became somewhat unreliable (but still usable!) so I purchased another one, Fujitsu branded -- working great last night.
MO media is absolutely reliable -- my first disks from 1996 have worn labels with almost unreadable lettering... but the contents read just fine, like day 1! The only problems I ever had were from the ocassional SCSI-termination issue, drive failure and an unfortunate system crash xx( that's why I keep the disks locked unless I need to write to them!
I mostly have backups on them, but also "large" (by the stantards of the day) files, like QT movies and big scans -- plus experimental / emergency systems. Most of my content is in DiskCopy images with checksum, so I can always verify data integrity
I like using the drive: compact, quiet and snappy performance -- seek times are slower than a HD, but still a lot faster than CDs. Another great thing is the plug-and-play feature: in the SE/30 or other computers without any driver installed, I just put a formatted disk in the drive, wait a few seconds for it to spin up, and then turn on the Mac -- driver from the disk is loaded at once. In fact, I'd like to get an OS X-compatible USB (or FireWire!) drive, it would make a convenient bridge between my modern and vintage computers.
Anyway, for your backup needs, I'd recommend a couple of HDs -- I'd never trust a single copy! (unless it's on MO, of course)
BTW, I'm currently in an altruist task as Sound Engineer wannabe, and I'm recording on... MiniDisc.