no the DVD is not dual sided, it is dual layered. The drive accesses and writes the data all on one side, one layer is just deeper into the disk than the other. "Preferred by DVD drive manufacturers, Verbatim DVD media continues to set the standard for high-speed disc performance, reliability, and compatibility. DVD+R Double Layer nearly doubles the storage capacity with two AZO recording layers on a single-sided disc. Certified and supported by the industry high speed Double Layer writers, Verbatim discs are approved for high speed burning up to 6X speeds. Store up to 8.5GBs of video in approximately 19 minutes or less while maintaining compatibility with most DVD video players or DVD-ROM drives."
Clone instead of backup. Backup requires you to have a working O/S and file structure, (MBR), or you'll need to reload your O/S first. Clone creates an exact clone of your drive. You can have a destroyed partition, (MBR), and complete data corruption/loss on your HDA, pop in the DVD containing the cloned image, (copy bootable Ghost files to the DVD during cloning, it gives you that option) restart your machine, choose boot from DVD, select local, disk to disk. And about 15 minutes later you have a HDA with every application, piece of data, email every setting, your O/S just the way your machine was the day you created the image. I create generic images, XP Pro, Svc. Pk. 2, with all updates, Office 03 with all updates, burning software, quickbooks, photoshop, 4 different spyware/adware tools and Norton systemworks/internet security. Not configured for any particular user. Then when someone needs to install an O/S or re-format a drive, they can use this cloned image and they have all of this new software installed and ready to go in about 15 minutes. The image will detect any different PNP hardware hardware, so I copy the .cab files to the HDA that I am taking the image from and it has a resource to get what it needs.
