Hello! I have been saving to try and get into organizing a crap ton of data I have in 2 USB keys and my main computer so I can have everything in one area, and free up my computer so it is not too cluttered. I recently found out DVDs can be used as a storage medium, though not most ideal as you need tons of them due to low storage capacity. But, supposedly, or allegedly, gold-layered ones can last for up to 50 years, theoretically 1 to 2 centuries (there seems to be debate about this).
Moreover, the total cost of getting an external optical drive, and multiple DVDs so I can have backups too, seems to be a bit cheaper than the cost of getting numerous high quality external 1TB HDDs as I do not want anything cheap and risk losing all the data. I intend to get 1 external HDD as main, 1 as backup, and maybe a third as backup backup.
Of course, for HDDs I also need static bags, and potential containers, to keep them safe. For DVDs. there are packs of 100 cases, though quite pricey, so honestly the cost might end up being similar in total. Although, static bags seem to come in large packs, so I do not know what I will do with the remainder once I use up 2 or 3. Anyways, HDDs also don't have the largest life span, but pretty decent at like I think 15 or 20 or so years?
And obviously, I know that regardless of medium, you should always check on your data to make sure it didn't die, and potentially doing updates as necessary.
TL;DR then, I just want to know what would be best for the situation of ~700 GB of data: DVD discs or HDDs. I also not gonna lie, I kinda like the idea of DVDs cuz I can eventually make a shelf in my house, but I can imagine transporting a box of them will be the most painful endeavor as I am a person who moves around international borders quite a bit. A big reason on why I am also hesitant to invest in this, because for all I know, my data might end up seized by a border officer at some point, so maybe I should just setup a data center hidden away in a mountain in a forest lol.
EDIT: By gold-layered i mean "archival grade", which kinda sounds like marketing jargon.