The Roland VS-2480 is a powerful, 24-track, digital recorder and mixer.

Finally... pro-studio quality results can be achieved using an inexpensive, all-in-one recording console that easily fits in the home recording studio.

One word of caution however... the Roland VS-2480 (aka 2480HD), the 2480CD, and the latest 2480DVD unit... are all Hard Drive Based Units.

Don't get me wrong... they are very reliable under normal usage conditions, but because they are hard drive based, occasionally, data corruption and/or HD failure can cause the loss of data... (i.e. your recorded material.)

When this does happen, it is often at the most inconvenient time. Even worse is when this happens when you have recorded projects for paying customers!

The best defense, when using the Roland VS-2480, is a good offense... in a nut shell, back-up your data, and back it up often.

With the Roland VS-2480, there are several options.

The first is to backup to CDR... the most common form of backup. 2480HD users often use an external CD burner connected via SCSI, while 2480CD users have the convenience of a built in CDR.

The downside to backing up to CDR is that it is very slow... especially when backing up larger projects, which often have to span several CDs... and like everything in life, the slower and "less convenient" something is, the less often we tend to do it.

The second option is to backup to DVD. For 2480DVD users, this involves simply backing up projects to the internal DVD burner. Very convenient and faster than CDR. DVD-R's can hold up to 4.7GB of data, so spanning multiple disks is seldom needed.

2480HD and 2480CD users can also have access to DVD backups by using the Song-Vault DVD burner connected to their 2480 via SCSI. This external burner works with your 2480 as long as you have OS version 2.5 or higher installed in your 2480. (For those needing the higher OS, the Song-Vault DVD includes a 2.504 OS upgrade CD).

The Song-Vault DVD is a DVD/CDR combo burner... thus, it allows you to burn audio CD's, export .wav files to CD, and burn CDR backups... PLUS adds DVD-R backup capabilities. Because ALL 2480's are basically the same inside... older 2480's with the latest OS version and an external Song-Vault DVD unit operate the same as the brand new Roland 2480DVD units... the only difference is that the DVD burner is external, instead of internal.

The third option for backing up is to use an external HD system like the VS Song-Vault. An external HD system gives you the fastest way to "backup" your songs. You simply "copy" a project to the external HD... which is 7-10 times faster than burning a CD or DVD backup... which stores a second copy of the song on the external unit.

Remember, a project (or song) is not really "backed up" unless the data resides in two different places... such as on the internal HD and on CDR... or internal HD and DVD... or internal HD and external HD... etc...

The nice thing about backing up to a VS Song-Vault external HD unit, is that it is very quick, and can be easily done during those "5-minute breaks" between recording sessions.

It really doesn't matter which type of backup you use with your Roland VS-2480... what matters is that you BACKUP FREQUENTLY.

Make it a part of your normal routine... and if there ever is data corruption or a hard drive failure with your 2480... you will not have clients screaming at you... or that "perfect take" gone forever.

It is great piece of mind to know that all of your hard work is safe.

For more info on Roland VS-2480 backup options, visit The Roland VS-2480 Accessory Place http://stores.ebay.com/The-Roland-VS-2480-Accessory-Place .