I'm really cautious/paranoid - keep two different brands of 50-pack CD-ROMs and use one of each to make copies of everything. Don't just burn the 2nd from the software's setup, in case it's messed up. I close and relaunch the program and set up the second CD from scratch, then burn. Of course, I only have to do it about once a week, so it's not much trouble. Yah, I've got a shelf full of the things, but they've really saved me more than once. I have an external hard drive for temporary and video back up, but have seen two drives go belly up, so don't put all your trust in them either. Oh yeah, keep some of those backup CDs off site, as one of my New York City friends was grateful she had done prior to last week.