Instead of floppies, my dad opted for the modern equivalent of floppy disks: CDs and DVDs. You'll certainly get a lot more stuff on each disc; CDs hold about 700MB of data and DVDs can be filled with 4.7GB of files. Since most PCs come with DVD writers these days, archiving your photos on shiny silver discs is easy to do.

If you have Windows Vista or Windows 7, you don't need any additional software to archive your photos. Just insert a blank disc in your PC's CD or DVD burner, choose Burn files to disc using Windows Explorer, and then follow the wizard to copy the photos. Windows does give you two options, which can be a little confusing.

The first option--called a Live File System disc--makes the disc work like a USB flash drive or ordinary hard drive, in that when you drag a file to the CD or DVD, the file is copied immediately. This is generally the best choice. The other option (a Mastered disc) feels a little archaic because you have to select the files to copy and then burn them all at once. The resulting disc is more compatible with other devices, though, like the DVD or Blu-ray player in your living room.

If you're still using Windows XP, you will need another program to make DVDs. I recommend , which I mentioned in my .