Completely understanding you frustration of burning DVDs and backuping Duncan.
The only drawback is the fragile nature of externals.
Be-careful as depending on manufacturer, quality may vary significantly.
I can not forget how I lost a large amount of pictures when accidentally power cable of my external HD got disconnected (While being working) and no surprise it died on me
So the key word for valuable family pictures etc, still is a more permanent media IMO at this time large capability optical disks. Only if We could have higher speed internet connection (Speed close to that of pc's bus) then ISP's cashed of site storage would be the best solution. For now if data is priceless then have another backup somewhere.