It may be true that CDs and DVDs are cheap, I think they are very cheap, especially DVDs, but they are not the way for me, they become bulky, and finding them is not easy, you have to physically go through them time and time again !

I already have hundreds of data DVDs and CDs, What i do is, i make an ISO file from the data CD or DVD, store it on the network and then mount it from there on any OS.

Most (All the ones i know of) linux distributions can mount an ISO file, Under Windows, i found this very nice utility that is also free called Virtual Clone Drive (Others may exist).

Install that, Double click any ISO and then you will find it in My Computer Area of your personal computer.

The only question that remains is, are DVDs and CDs worth it ?

1- When doing the math, you might be tempted to devide the price by the number of GBs and see the cost per GB, this is not very accurate, for every 4 or 6 disks need a computer to host them right ?

You can also use NAS enclosures to do the magic right ? yes you can and for this example i will do the math with a NAS enclosure

At the time of writing, the seagate 1.5 TB costs $130, That is around 8.5 cents per GB (Impressive).
Add to that the price of a NAS enclosure for about 40 Dollars (If you have extra SATA ports on your PC or network this is not necessary). the cost per GB becomes. ((130 + 40) / 1500) = 11 Cents per GB !

But is that cheaper than DVD ?

Last time i got DVDs, they were 20 Cents each, this means they cost around 5 Cents per GB.
So, no doubt, that today, DVDs are cheaper than disk space, but the question remains, can the low cost of a DVD justify its use ? they are harder to manage, but they do have advantages,

1- Security, If it is stored away from light, Humitdity and other things, you can’t loase data that is on a DVD like you can lose data on a hard disk, Hard disks are very reliable, But never as reliable as a DVD.

2- Cheaper, as we have just seen.

3- Portable, You can carry them around easily

4- they come in smaller chunks, you can not lend 2 GBs of your hard drive to your friend

So, DVDs may still have there place (And other forms of optical storage), for me, i would go the hard disk route, and when i need a DVD i can just burn one from the ISO files on the hard drive.

NOTE – If you go the hard drive route, the cost doubles if you want to back up your data !