Are CDs still the cheapest type of data storage?

Question

Are CDs still the cheapest type of data storage?

Answer 1

No they are not...and they never were.

A 100 pack of CD's is about $25.  700MB per disk = 70,000MB = about 68GB of storage for $25.  

The best you can get in flash storage is about 8GB for $25

A hard dive is a cheaper option 500 GB for about $100

The cheapest storage available however, is magnetic tape.  You can buy an 800GB tape for about $40.

CD's = $0.36/GB

USB =  $3.13/GB

HD = $0.20/GB

Tape = $0.05/GB

The trade off with tape however is that it is SLOW, and the readers/writers are expensive.  To answer your question Tape is the cheapest type of data storage... but a hard drive is the most cost efffective for a home user.

Answer 2

flash drives are? they are re writable....

Answer 3

In the long run, their probably more expensive. You might want to try a USB stick. Thier widely availiiable and you can get the for good prices in a range of storage, and they fit into everything, including your jean pockets (which CDs don't.) Try Radio Shack. They have them there from 9.99-39.99.  

Answer 4

No.

Solid state flash drives are.

That is, of course, if you are only talking about very very compact portable storage.

Otherwise a hard drive has the best cost to storage value.

Even a portable hard drive.

Answer 5

Blue ray Discs, Pen Drives, DVDs and yup Cds

Answer 6

yes

Answer 7

usb powered portable hard drive,, is they hold alot more then flash EXAMPLE 40 80 or 120 gigs and up.

Answer 8

You can use floppy disks; but only if your computer still has the floppy disk drive xD.  

Answer 9

no dvd's are you get more storage on a dvd than a CD

Answer 10

dsfasfaw

Answer 11

I think flash drivers are and they are allot faster and easier to put stuff on and take stuff off. Also Flash drivers can be used thousands of times were as CD's can be burned once and read many times(until they get scratched) or CD-RW that can be written and read many times but don't last as long and take a while to burn.

Answer 12

Why not use a memory stick or a USB cable? I mean, it's a tad more expensive, but more portable.

Answer 13

you can now buy a terrabyte external harddrive for less than 200 bucks....count out how many cds you need to buy to get that

Answer 14

Absolutely not.  Hard drives are by far the cheapest type of data storage.  

You can buy a 750 GB hard drive for $100 dollars.  To get the same storage on CDs, you would have to buy over a thousand CDs, which will probably cost around $150.

Answer 15

No way jose! Flash drives are around the same price as a 30 pack of CDs (depending on how much space is on the drive) and have a lot more space. Plus, they're rewriteable.

Answer 16

To get alot of memory I think you have to get a fash drive