I am scared to backup my data onto a DVD, I've had too many disc corruption problems to trust an "open surface" optical media like a dvd or CD with precious data unless you locked it in a safe immediately after burning it to keep it nice and shiny :) I've never had a hard drive problem that was serious, and for that I am thankful. I backup my important files to my ipod, so in that respesct maybe a properly sized-to-your needs portable hard drive could be a good backup solution, as they tend to be much more rugged than their 3.5" cousins.