Re: @everyone
It's interesting that just about everyone here answered my post with variations concerning NAS and/or company backup procedures.
Funny, I clearly indicated that I was talking about Joe User.
Joe User does not have a NAS and wouldn't know how to set it up if you gift-wrapped it and installed it for him and, if you did do that for him, it would do eff all for his data when he gets infected with an encryption virus as is such the rage right now.
And please stop going on about how optical discs "are not forever". Nothing is forever and it is hilarious to think that optical discs without any moving parts are more at risk than spinning rust. Your optical drive can fail, it has no bearing on the data on the disk. The same cannot be said about hard disks.
Optical discs can fade (or so I've heard as well), but I take my data seriously enough to not buy the cheapest sort and, for the moment, I have indeed been lucky - if you call "luck" the staged multi-copy process I go through.
Once again, optical discs are the best bet for Joe User. When/if he gets around to it, he'll have a valid copy that will be stable and reliable long enough for him to completely forget what was on it in the first place.
You guys are experienced enough to choose your own path and take your own risks.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
