Blu-ray with selfmade cover artwork.

no you are not. blu-ray is awesome. i even create my own covers.

I used to do that for my cassette tapes.

And right now half of the forum is going "Cassette tapes?"

tapes are great i even still collect them, even vhs and laserdisc. physical media ftw!

I think digitize them is the best preservation.

I ripped all my music CDs and backup them.
While I still have all the CDs, I just play flac files on my hard drive.

Well, this works for vinyl, but not for tapes and laserdisc. It's important to actually use them, otherwise you could lost them. Laserdisc because you have to check for laserrot. And tapes, well they need to be played from time to time. But jeah, ripping is very nice nonetheless. :)

Thanks for all explanations. I'll put my numbers here in case it may be helpful for someone.

I've downloaded gogrepo script and for now just made a scan with command:
python gogrepo.py update -lang en pl
I assume the command above need to be tuned up to download only Linux installers (if available, Win otherwise) and Polish (as above), but for now I was interested in a rough estimation only.
It took 3 hours 15 minutes to scan through library of 364 games. Then I've checked required space with command:
python gogrepo.py download -dryrun
and the answer is 514.28 GB to download. Not bad, it means I need 1,41 GB per game on average. However most of my games are quite old classics and I suppose for most of you it'd be a bit more. Due to hardware limitations new and big titles are quite rare in my library.

Now I need to wait for better Internet connection (soon™) and I need to get a proper solution for storage.

Some games provide old installers or editors as bonus goodies. Some of them are quite large.
1.41 GB per game is not uncommon, in case you have some newer AAA games.

You can use gogrepo.py to download a specific game or a list of games.
You can backup those you want most, and download others later, after you get a proper solution for storage.

You probably already know this, but just in case - please remember to include some extra room for future games you may want. ;)

Sorry for the long explanation - I am trying to link many threads and to be clear. My caution is based on what is being posted in other threads combined with personal job experience in the commercial software field. I am strongly cautioning a "wait and see" on the latest installer-only updates for classic installer only users - until we can see what can be found out or we get a response from GOG.

Like you I've been watching several threads and putting pieces together.
Here Question regarding the updated installers they have noted in the installer-only updates there is no change to the included files gameplay-wise, but that there seem to be new shortcuts having to do with Galaxy when the game is launched and some installers have been updated to have the Galaxy installer included.

In The "what did just update" thread they have noted that "every updated installer has no galaxy installer (anymore)" per Lin545 and "Not a single one of the games I own that has been received an installer updated recently also has an optional Galaxy installer" per MarkoH01.

Putting this together with my own experience as a Software Engineer and Architect, I have worked before at companies that 'package together' installers with hidden directories and files and slip them to the client. In truth, sometimes this is done so as to keep better track of updates and cut down on mistakes. Oftentimes, however, it is to cut down the workload and if done lazily can bloat files and take up more computer resources at the client (users) end. In this particular case I would be fine with language or OS version installers packaged together - but as non-user of Galaxy and an user of adamhm's wine wrappers, WINE, ./play.it who likes mods and modding, these new installers are interfering with what I and some other Gog customers have paid for. I came here to buy and own clean installers, DRM-free. Like many here, I specifically bought games on GOG after researching if they would work with how we wanted to play them (DRM-free, work with specific OS's or mods). It is my choice not to take part in Galaxy. I don't fault those that do wish to, but at this time I do not want Galaxy installer files rearranging things on my personal computer. The concern here is that GOG may be taking that choice away. If those Goggers like myself (who depend on the classic installers for work-arounds) download the new installers many games we already bought may no longer work for us, and we are beyond the refund limit for something GOG sprung on us with no transparency, no warning or announcement of their intent. If true, that bothers me.

Currently it looks like this is what is going on, based on what has been put together through several different threads, that GOG may be packaging together the classic and Galaxy installers and the process is also including files and directories which are hidden behind either encryption or obfuscation. I haven't seen it confirmed yet where anyone has exactly found what these do. In various other threads a few users have reported they downloaded the new installers and the game wouldn't launch, another said some have been found to be corrupted (unconfirmed). I actually don't think GOG intended to 'break' things, and they may have to go back and rework these. At this point I would simply caution those who use the classic installers that they may not wish to download the new installer-only updates until we see if those working on this can find what is truly going on, and/or we hear from GOG what they purpose to do. GOG may have to either change these installer packages again or archive and offer clean classic installers to those of us who need them. At this time I prefer to not buy nor download anything from GOG until we get clear answers.

For those wondering what games are effected: the what did just update weekly digest is trying to keep track.

For ./play.it or Adamhm’s wrappers users they are offering in the project thread to check if the latest installer of your game is supported.

i think those are just archival grade dvds what i'm talking about are discs which start at 300gb single layer. i think you can get quad layer discs at 1tb. you can read more on wikipedia

at home

Same here. Thanks for summing the problem up! It would be great to get some answers from blues (Poland ends Easter Holidays today so perhaps tomorrow we'll get something).

We don't know the answers yet, but I'm afraid we already know that GOG does not learn by their own mistakes. After terrible flame around Galaxy installers we had here last year I'd rather expect a bit more careful policy of implementing changes - or at least clear announcement before they've started to mess things up...

The whole situation realizes me that I simply cannot rely on GOG and it was great mistake to have no properly managed backup of games' installers. It also question my current strategy to buy games for future play - as I cannot be sure any more that the game bought today will be available for me a year or two from now.

I admit I got lucky that I do a quarterly update/backup of my games on GOG and that I did it last weekend due to April 1 being Easter weekend. It does look like between muntdefems "what did just update?" Weekly Digest and the GOG Database (site and features listed on that post) that so far we might be able to tell which games have the installer-only update and avoid those - even though it seems that not all of them are affected.

For GoG games I use an external 4 GB HDD, which is more than a half full!
I store Linux and Windows classic installers plus extras, English and German.

+1

8tb external hard disk currently, sizes have differed over years but always on an external drive. I upgrade it each time the technology and size improve enough to make worthwhile (usually two or three years), and have never had one fail on me to date.