Should I Backup my MPEG Files after Burning?

[vidkid123]

I've got a bunch of digital home videos (AVI) that I edited and rendered in MPEG-2 format then burned DVDs. I deleted the AVI files as they take up too much room and I don't have the time to archive - nor do I anticipate having any further need to edit the videos. I also don't have the time (right now) to watch 100% of the DVDs I created to make sure everything looks okay. I just wash a minute or so of the chapters. Is it worth the time/effort to backup the original MPEG files to a data DVD in case something is not right with the video DVD or is that too paranoid - in otherwords, if there's a problem would it just already be in the MPEG file anyway?

I guess the jist of what I'm asking is whether making a data DVD with all the individual MPEG files is any better of a backup than just treating the video DVD as the archive and just extracting the MPEG files from that if I ever needed to access them/edit them again.

[Jazz]

As a rule I keep my original material 99% of the time. You never know - the DVD may be fried in the sun, scratched, lost, or your aunty Hyacinth may ask you for an extra special edit 2 years from now... In many cases my source material is shot on a camcorder and then it's easy - just don't reuse the DV tape and Bob's your uncle.

From what you describe it doesn't sound like you'd get a lot of value from an extra copy (seperate files or authored) unless you'd wish to protect against a total loss.