Can i use my old vcr for data storage?

Yes you can. Don't know if you can still get them but there were a couple of devices that would interface between a VCR and a PC parallel port (sorry, I can't remember the brand and I can't find them in my electronic junk pile). The disadvantages were it was slow (3hrs, the speed of the tape) and could only backup a couple of hundred meg or so. I used to use one to back up customers' software before performing Y2K testing (yes, that long ago). There were versions that would do 2GB but they were unreliable during the restore process. So it can be done but I wouldn't recommend it for long term storage for a number of reasons mainly reliability of restore and the problem of print through on VCR tapes that are left unused for any length of time. CD/DVD is all over it as far as storage size, reliability and speed.