Not everyone is using tapes - but I'd bet most people are. It's pretty much
standard. You can use whatever you like - but you can't back up
automatically to a DVD. You can back up to a file and then burn a DVD. Seems
like extra work to me - assuming everything will even fit. I like tapes.

you won't be suing the DVD but the guy who suggested it was a viable backup
medium better get a lawyer.

How much disk do you have to backup. Then consider that:
DVD's hold 4.7GB
Tapes hold 40GB-80GB-300GB-or more, dep[ending on make & model

Now you tell me which you want to use.

DL,

Kevin, Lanwrench, and SuperGumby all make a point about industry standards
and best practices of using tape...

Another thing to consider is the APPLICATION Software used for the backup
and (hopefully never needed) restore.

I am not aware of DVD or CD software that has the librarying capabilities of
say  ... Veritas Backup Exec.

I my case, I use a Dell PVT110 internal drive and DLT IV 20/40GB tape
cartridges in my Poweredge 2600.

I am using Veritas BackupExec 9.x.

On the few occasions that I have had to recover a specific data file, I
simply went into Veritas and selected restore and entered the file
name....the library software told me which tape had each version of the file
and I was able to select the last known good data file and restore it where
ever I pleased.

This functionality should be considered.

Additionally, I do not believe(correct me if I am wrong) that the encodeing
for DVD writing have been fully standardized, thus leaving you open to
creating a DVD on one drive and firmware level and not being able to read it
on another drive or formware level...

Just my opinion... for what its worth.

RickD