tmbh on 16 March 2008
1) Optical drives (DVD, CD, Blu-Ray) are likely to be around for a long time. If newer drives come out they are likely to be backwards compatible due to the popularity of the medium. If you have stuff backed up on CD/DVD I would not worry about it just make sure the discs are good quality and there are stored safely.
2) I'm sure if a new standard wipes out optical drives there will be plenty of ways to recover or transfer data.
