Community Newsletter: Q&A: 1/27/06 How long do burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs last?
- 1/26/06 5:55 PM
How long do burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs Last?
by p-hirsch - 1/27/06 6:59 AM In reply to: 1/27/06 How long do burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs last? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Thank for this comprehensive and enlightening article on this subject. The best I have ever read.
Peter Hirsch
CD - Rs and Photos
by BethPR - 1/27/06 7:06 AM In reply to: 1/27/06 How long do burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs last? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Does this apply to photos?
I have over 4000 cd-r's of legal live music - read my advice
by xjackson - 1/27/06 7:07 AM In reply to: 1/27/06 How long do burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs last? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have been recording legal live music to CD-R for 4-5 yrs. now (Phish, Grateful Dead, etc), after switching from analog cassette tape. So the longevity of my collection is of extreme importance to me. Here is what I post on my website:
--I don't accept Taiwanese Fujis (very common nowadays), Memorex, Imation, Maxell, TDK's, Sony, or any generics in TRADES. I will accept Verbatim, Japanese Fujis, Mitsui, Kodak Gold, and Taiyo Yuden's. For the MOST PART, I've learned the general rule of thumb, is to only use discs made in Japan. Anything else just doesn't cut it. Discs made in Taiwan use cheaper dye that deteriorates much more quickly than the dyes used to make Japanese discs (again, for the most part!). I use most of these brands at different times -- mainly Japanese Fujis. Again, I've found the consensus criterion of what discs not to use are any discs manufactured outside of Japan.
--For labeling, you should NEVER write on the printed, data portion of the disc. Rather, ONLY write on the clear inner ring in the middle of the disc. This part of the disc does not contain any data. I recommend using a Sharpie Ultra Fine Point black marker.
if i were you...
by CathodeRayTube - 1/29/06 12:06 PM In reply to: I have over 4000 cd-r's of legal live music - read my advice by xjacksoni would record all those CD-Rs to metal cassette tapes , just in case. keep the CDs..but if they decide to go south ,youl still have the tapes.
we KNOW tapes last atleast 30 years...(i have tapes that are 30YO and are fine anyway) CDs and especialy recordable CDs ,we just dont know.
or if you want to keep them digital, i would invest in 1 or 2 large hard drives (in the 400GB range) and rip all your CDs to them and store them as lossless FLAC or APE files. and then if your reely anal...copy that drive to an identical one or even set up a RAID, then you have 2 copys (3 if you count the origanal CDs)and the possibility of losing ther songs to a mechanical HDD failure will be virtualy non existant.
The real question is...
by rckgutbrod - 1/27/06 7:16 AM In reply to: 1/27/06 How long do burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs last? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have a room full of backup tapes from the past decade. There is no equipment that can read the tapes, since the technology out ran it.
The CD/DVD burners today will also be left behind, and what do you have? Pretty little circles of plastic coasters for your drinking pleasure.
The real question is what are you going to use to read that disk 10 years from now? The operating system will change, your software will change and you will be on your 4th new computer, with all the "current" whiz-bang technology, which will not be able to access those beer coasters.
Magnetic Media Instabilities
by boomslang - 1/27/06 7:31 AM In reply to: 1/27/06 How long do burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs last? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I'm not so sure about tapes either. I've been working with computer systems for 20 years now and have seen tapes fail (non mechanical) in 3-5 years as well. The media being used was not cheap run-of-the mill stuff. The usual rules of keep in a cool place, retension, etc. were followed but I learned that if it was really important, you probably should have two tape copies of it as one of them was guaranteed to have a read failure if you really needed the data.
CDR Types
by franke1 - 1/27/06 7:36 AM In reply to: 1/27/06 How long do burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs last? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Do you have a preferance to any brand of CDR's for longer lasting or more stability?
Please clarify -- "label side"
by RosalindLJ - 1/27/06 8:11 AM In reply to: 1/27/06 How long do burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs last? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
In Barry W.'s reply, he stated:
"-Labeling: The glues in adhesive labels, or the solvents in pen-type markers, both applied to the label side (the side containing the data) can SLOWLY penetrate the reflective backing and dye layers and destroy the data."
Was that a missprint? "the side containing the data"?? I generally don't consider the label side to be the side that contains the data. I can only guess that he means that "the label side (the side not containing the data) can SLOWLY penetrate . . . "
Otherwise, I see no reason to mention a problem with labels -- I don't know anyone who would mark the data side.
Re: Please clarify -- "label side"
by Droid - 1/27/06 8:48 AM In reply to: Please clarify -- "label side" by RosalindLJI think the reference was to the way a disc is built: the underside of the disc is thick plastic but the label side has a reflective coating just under the surface, into which the data is written. It's the side which is most easily damaged which is why it's not a good idea to write or stick things on it.
Try scratching it off . . . .
by NickV - 1/27/06 9:13 AM In reply to: Re: Please clarify -- "label side" by DroidThe back of the "lable side" is where the data is written, and if you have a CD you don't want, just use a key, coin, or knife to scratch it off (or bend it) and you will see it flakes off with a shiny back like mirror backing -- then when you look at it you only have a clear plastic disk in that area. The data went "bye-bye" with the reflective coating from the "back", "top" or whatever you call the side that has the place to write on, or the imprint of the manufacturer's name.
yea...
by soldier9599 - 1/27/06 10:48 AM In reply to: Try scratching it off . . . . by NickVThe cd (different from dvds) is a piece of plastic, with a metallic sheet stuck on. The metallic sheet is the sheet that you can label, and although your drive reads through the plastic part, the actual data is on the other side of the plastic, on that metallic sheet. got it?
Bottom Line: Don't Bake Your CD/DVD-RW's
by Filmmaker - 1/27/06 8:12 AM In reply to: 1/27/06 How long do burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs last? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The "stress test" to show degradation used temperatures of 90-100 degrees CELCIUS. That's over 200 degrees FAHRENHEIT.
So the bottom line is:
DON'T USE YOUR OVEN TO STORE YOUR CD-RW or DVD-RW COLLECTION. For you kiddies, this also means don't store your CD-RW's loaded with stolen music on your car's dashboard in the hot summer sun.
If you keep your CD-RW or DVD-RW indoors on a shelf or out of the sun, you can be fairly satisfied that it will still be usable in 100 years. And by that time you'll have probably upgraded to the new 1/2" optical chip storage, the next generation of Flash ROMs.
So this "concern" is a snoozer.
DVD +RW use
by wmajors - 1/27/06 8:39 AM In reply to: 1/27/06 How long do burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs last? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I agree on not paying the price for DVD RW media, except... 
I use DVD+RW to record TV movies on an RCA 8000N DVD recorder, for later viewing. I edit the movie and ''hide'' all of the commercials, then re-record it to DVD+R. I erase the RW and use it many many times. The end result is a collection commercial-free movies on +R media that will probably outlive me.
I use cd-rw, but not for archiving
by onosson - 1/27/06 8:55 AM In reply to: 1/27/06 How long do burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs last? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I like this post a lot. The one thing I would add is that cd-rw media does have its place. I don't use them for archiving, but I have a couple of discs that I use to transfer files between my desktop and notebook. One could easily use a thumbdrive or other removable media, but cd-rws are very cheap in comparison, and pretty well any computer built these days can burn them, so they make a pretty good option.
What about the "Inkjet" printable lables & "lightscribe" ?
by NickV - 1/27/06 9:06 AM In reply to: 1/27/06 How long do burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs last? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Can anyone shed any light (no pun intended) on the newer, or more recently available, inkjet printable lables? Are their adheasives more stable, or is there a problem about them too? I thought they weould be somewhat of an advantage even if I didn't print on them because the printable surface would "provide" some "protedtion" to the "foil" or whatever it is on the back of CD's that when it get's scratched looses all of the data in that area.
A further extrapolation or carry on/over is a similar question about the newest "technology" the HP "Lightscribe" CD's and DVD's don't they by definition have the dies, or whatever on both surfaces, and would that have any affect or effect on the longevity of them?
| Forum legend: | |
 |
Locked thread |
 |
Moderator |
 |
CNET staff |
 |
Samsung staff |
 |
Norton Authorized Support team |
 |
AVG staff |
 |
Windows Outreach team |
 |
Dell staff |
 |
Intel staff |
