What is the best way of storing and sharing large amounts of digital data?

I%26#039;m wanting to develop a website that shares numerous, and usually quite large, PDF files. The content at the present moment which I have to provide ranges approximately 40GB%26#039;s. I%26#039;m wanting to develop a database so that each individual PDF would be capable of being downloaded. This results in 3 questions:

1.) What would be the best method in sharing large amounts of digital data such as this?

2.) What is the best method for long-term storage of the digital media? I%26#039;ve looked into DVD-RAM and External HDs, but unsure which would be more reliable or what other means are out there.

3.) Would it be most cost effective to operate my own server to store the information on?

As a side question, does anyone know of good hosts? I know there are numerous domain and web hosts out there, but I%26#039;d like one that takes large bandwidth into consideration.

Please note that I%26#039;m not looking for free services, but rather the most reliable. Cost effectiveness would be nice, but reliability is priority.

What is the best way of storing and sharing large amounts of digital data?

I can answer parts of your question:

1) I don%26#039;t know the BEST. ONE method would be to have an FTP server that hosts the data.

2) Long term storage for your application would be hard drives due to the amount of data. Hard drives are fastest, and they are pretty cheap these days. You would have a server, and then backup all of the information to hard drives in either the same or a separate computer. External hard drives would not be ideal but they could work. Look into RAID 1 %26quot;Mirrors%26quot;. This is a common way to have a duplicate copy of the info, and when one drive fails you replace it and rebuild the array. Remember it never hurts to backup your backups with DVD-R or DVD+R if the data is critical.

3) It would be most cost effective to operate your own server, IF you can give yourself enough bandwidth and if you don%26#039;t mind maintaining it. Call your local ISP for more information. If you are looking to provide high speeds to multiple users, you will not be able to use a Cable or DSL connection to the home. You will need a T1 or higher connection and these are expensive. An %26quot;easier%26quot; option would be to pay another company, and they also may take care of backups for you. This would be expensive. Search for %26quot;web hosting%26quot;. Questions to ask would be bandwidth limits and storage space limits and how do backups work.

Also, an IT consulting company would be able to develop a solution for you if you have $$ to spend.