With the advent of larger capacity USB thumb drives and software coming preloaded on these drives, it is becoming easier for the end user to transfer larger multimedia files such as office training or home videos from one location to another. This will probably become the norm for creating home videos as we see more and more assorted inputs on newer high definition televisions. But this doesn't mean that DVDs will become obsolete at all. In fact, DVDs will be a necessary medium for decades to come due to their permanence and reliability for backing up and archiving data and video.

While hard drives and large file uploading and downloading have reached peak levels of reliability, archiving will still be mandatory and recommended. USB thumb drives and hard drives aren't infallible though. These drives tend to be a frequently high use method for re-recording data and if not maintained and monitored properly with disk utilities, can become corrupt and even fail.

What should one do if they already have gigabyte upon gigabyte of data or videos that they want to preserve for posterity? What about if the amount of data creeps up into the terabyte range? With home videos and the shared media on community websites a terabyte or more of data is easily achieved. It could conceivably take weeks or more to properly author your own DVDs. For many this doesn't pose a problem, but there are those individuals that for a lack of time, the complexity of video authoring software, or the expense, it is just too great of a burden.

The question then remains, should you just save the video files to USB storage drives and shelf them or have a dedicated professional authoring company create the DVDs for you to enable you to enjoy on any television with a DVD player? The short term solution would be to use USB thumb drives for this purpose, however, should an individual have a large library of video and audio data, constantly purchasing USB thumb drives would become expensive. DVD authoring is the best viable solution.

In order of increasing complexity thumb drives for the most part are all the same, but there are differences in blank DVD media and different formats that yield there own benefits. For the average person DVD-R/RW will suffice, but there are more inherent weaknesses that this format possesses as opposed to DVD+R/RW. There can also be differences in longevity and quality when burning one's own DVD as opposed to utilizing a professional DVD authoring company that can create your data on stamped DVDs.

It comes down to a person's choice with what they wish their end result to be. Each method yields its own rewards: saving time and some frustration to costing more financially, but having a greater quality finished product. Choose wisely. You don't want to risk the loss of those special memories or vital information.