I've always known that the lack of durability of writable discs was overstated by popular opinion. Optical media will rot, of course, but if you store them properly they will last for quite a long...
I've always known that the lack of durability of writable discs was overstated by popular opinion. Optical media will rot, of course, but if you store them properly they will last for quite a long while.
The real problem with optical media for consumers was a lack of transparency. The discs are commodities, and that means that some of the most popular brands you'd find were not made by the company who's name is on the packaging or the discs themselves, but by a third party manufacturer Most discs have metadata about the manufacturer burned into them already, and if you put it in your computer drive there are tools that can read that for you.
I know this because I always had a heck of a time getting discs of high enough quality to work with drives that were made before writable CDs were available on the consumer market. The dies on most CD-Rs were not strong enough to be reliably read by those devices. There was only one brand that sold discs under their own name and had a good enough product to be reliable, Taiyo Yuden, which became really hard to find when they spun off that part of their business into a joint venture with JVC.
I'm honestly surprised. I have discs that are less than 10 years old and are unreadable. Some from delamination, others from the ink fading. I'm even more surprised now but I suspect that they...
I'm honestly surprised.
I have discs that are less than 10 years old and are unreadable. Some from delamination, others from the ink fading.
Surprisingly, with no special storage precautions, generic low-cost media, and consumer drives, I'm getting good data from CD-Rs more than 19 years old, and from DVD-Rs nearly 17 years old. Your mileage may vary. Tune in again next year for another episode.
I'm even more surprised now but I suspect that they were still kept in a climate controlled area. I'd imagine that makes a big difference.
I suspect that, as @Akir mentioned below, that a big part of the "YMMV" disclaimer is the substandard quality of consumer-level optical media. I still have distasteful memories of having bargain...
I suspect that, as @Akir mentioned below, that a big part of the "YMMV" disclaimer is the substandard quality of consumer-level optical media. I still have distasteful memories of having bargain disks fail while trying to write to them, and there seemed to be no way to judge reliability without biting the bullet and splurging on the top-end (and top-price) disks.
Temperature, light, and humidity are the main things that kill CD-Rs over time, so yes, keeping them in an air-conditioned house makes a huge difference.
Temperature, light, and humidity are the main things that kill CD-Rs over time, so yes, keeping them in an air-conditioned house makes a huge difference.
I have very, very few failures in optical media. My collection only goes back to '99 or so with CD's and I started using DVD's in 2003. One reason for this record of success was the fact that I...
I have very, very few failures in optical media. My collection only goes back to '99 or so with CD's and I started using DVD's in 2003. One reason for this record of success was the fact that I was picky about blank media. The vast majority of my discs were Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim, and I always burned at less than max speed... usually 8x for DVD's and 16x for CD's.
The one exception to this was the small box of Ritek Blu-ray discs I tried as an experiment, since they were getting good reviews. All five of them failed within five years. I haven't seen any failures from my Verbatim BD discs. Watched one of my Blu-ray movies just two nights ago in fact.
Miss those days at cdfreaks when optical media was pertinent.
Five years ago I posted Optical Media Durability and discovered:
Surprisingly, I'm getting good data from CD-Rs more than 14 years old, and from DVD-Rs nearly 12 years old. Your mileage may vary.
Four years ago I repeated the mind-numbing process of feeding 45 disks through the reader and verifying their checksums. Three years ago I did it again, and then again two years ago, and then again a year ago.
It is time again for this annual chore, and yet again this year every single MD5 was successfully verified. Below the fold, the details.
I've always known that the lack of durability of writable discs was overstated by popular opinion. Optical media will rot, of course, but if you store them properly they will last for quite a long while.
The real problem with optical media for consumers was a lack of transparency. The discs are commodities, and that means that some of the most popular brands you'd find were not made by the company who's name is on the packaging or the discs themselves, but by a third party manufacturer Most discs have metadata about the manufacturer burned into them already, and if you put it in your computer drive there are tools that can read that for you.
I know this because I always had a heck of a time getting discs of high enough quality to work with drives that were made before writable CDs were available on the consumer market. The dies on most CD-Rs were not strong enough to be reliably read by those devices. There was only one brand that sold discs under their own name and had a good enough product to be reliable, Taiyo Yuden, which became really hard to find when they spun off that part of their business into a joint venture with JVC.
I'm honestly surprised.
I have discs that are less than 10 years old and are unreadable. Some from delamination, others from the ink fading.
I'm even more surprised now but I suspect that they were still kept in a climate controlled area. I'd imagine that makes a big difference.
I suspect that, as @Akir mentioned below, that a big part of the "YMMV" disclaimer is the substandard quality of consumer-level optical media. I still have distasteful memories of having bargain disks fail while trying to write to them, and there seemed to be no way to judge reliability without biting the bullet and splurging on the top-end (and top-price) disks.
Temperature, light, and humidity are the main things that kill CD-Rs over time, so yes, keeping them in an air-conditioned house makes a huge difference.
I have very, very few failures in optical media. My collection only goes back to '99 or so with CD's and I started using DVD's in 2003. One reason for this record of success was the fact that I was picky about blank media. The vast majority of my discs were Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim, and I always burned at less than max speed... usually 8x for DVD's and 16x for CD's.
The one exception to this was the small box of Ritek Blu-ray discs I tried as an experiment, since they were getting good reviews. All five of them failed within five years. I haven't seen any failures from my Verbatim BD discs. Watched one of my Blu-ray movies just two nights ago in fact.
Miss those days at cdfreaks when optical media was pertinent.