Australis13

Thanks for sharing. I would definitely be interested in a write-up on how you solved the DNS+certificate problem please, as this is a problem I've run into on my self-hosting journey.

Ah, my mistake, I'm getting mixed up between minidiscs and the 8cm mini CDs.

You can get multi-layer M-disc BD-Rs, though, up to the triple layer 100GB BDXL (although you need one of the BDXL burners to write those; the 50GB BD-R DLs can be written by most burners). They cost a pretty penny, though!

The biggest problem now is the disappearance of Bluray burners/writers. Here in Aus there are no internal drives available on the market any more. I've had to stock up with a few second-hand spares before they get too pricey.

Yeah, I like to have important data (such as family photos and videos) backed up on two different formats and M-disc BDs provide an acceptable option. There are various blog posts testing them online versus regular discs and they handle a lot more wear and tear (not that mine get subjected to that!), so I'm pretty confident that mine will outlast me.

Entertainment content I'm willing to risk on regular recordable discs/HDD backups if it's important enough to put in the effort (I usually buy the physical disc anyway, so I have the pressed CD, DVD or BD to start with).

Haven't seen a minidisc in ages! I remember some of the cheap IT hardware used to come with those for drivers in the late 2000s.

M-Discs are a specialised form of DVD and Bluray (DVDs require a burner with M-disc capability) that have a longer life than the usual consumer grade discs. Odds are that they will last longer than the technology required to read them.

Eventual goal - solar with battery backup for the house with isolation ability from the grid. Here in Aus you can have (1) solar tied to grid, (2) solar with batteries tied to grid, and (3) solar with batteries with a grid isolation switch. Only (3) allows you to power your house when the grid goes down.

If my place gets flooded then, due to the terrain, it's going to be a much bigger problem than data loss (even if it is all my family photos and videos). I think that will be the least of my concerns at that point. That said, I do have off-site backups and I'm also locally archiving to m-discs, so both the flood and EMP problem are not insurmountable in that respect.

Probably the one thing I do need to do is print out a lot of the more recent photos so I have hard copies of ones I want to keep.

This is definitely a decent starting point but not a complete solution, unfortunately. It's not always cost-effective if you only want a few tracks from an album or need to import it to get it at all (or if it was a limited release it can be hard to find at all).