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Community Newsletter: Q&A: 1/27/06 How long do burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs last?
- 1/26/06 5:55 PM
(NT) All of them.
by pelewis - 2/17/06 3:22 PM In reply to: Still waiting by VideoparkIt depends!
by yenaro - 1/28/06 11:36 AM In reply to: How long to burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs last? by crispianduckMaybe you are right! But wait some years and time will tell us!
Great article .. and a question
by moeness86 - 1/27/06 3:30 AM In reply to: 1/27/06 How long do burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs last? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
thanks so much ... really useful piece of info .
but could u mention how should we pick media ?
what should I look for when buying blank CDs/DVDs ?
Life of CDs
by walkerdine - 1/27/06 3:39 AM In reply to: 1/27/06 How long do burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs last? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I endorse everything that Barry says, but one important aspect is original disc quality. It is very bad practice to use cheap, unbranded discs. Many are produced in the far east underanything but ideal conditions. They may be OK for grabbing the latest pop recording, but not for anything serious.
Use named brands only and try to seek those that use a gold reflective layer. The problem with other materials - silver/aluminium - is that they can and do corrode over time.
Remember that the dyes used in recordable CDs are light sensitive. If you leave them lying around on the desk don't expect them to have a long life.Store them in the dark.
Peter A of Argyll, Scotland
Crap CDR's
by MrDeBeuker - 1/27/06 2:10 PM In reply to: Life of CDs by walkerdineI've had crap CDR's where the recording layer chipped off the substrate after a year or so.
Storage life of CD-RWs!
by Linmary - 1/27/06 3:40 AM In reply to: 1/27/06 How long do burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs last? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Thanks for the comprehensive explanation about storage life. This has now got me worried as I have just devised a system to keep all my photographs on CD-RWs! Do you think this is foolish and should I start again and only use CD-Rs?
I find the difference between the two confusing anyway - although I am an experienced computer user and storer of data (having used computers since the early 1980s!) I fear I am losing the plot(!) as I cannot seem to get a grip of the differences of erasure/storage/usage of these two seemingly same looking but different abilities type media! - if you get my meaning! (maybe it's my age!!)
This website is superb and a great help - thanks to all the contributors who write far more intelligently than I do here!
Lin.
Question re Music CDs and MP3 format
by daveboxley - 1/27/06 5:25 AM In reply to: Storage life of CD-RWs! by LinmaryIt has been suggested in this discussion that when recoring music for the car specific music CD's are used.
Should I use music CD's when burning MP3 CD's?
What about music CD-Rs for data?
by TerryT - 1/27/06 5:01 PM In reply to: Question re Music CDs and MP3 format by daveboxleyI'm also confused about music vs. data CD-Rs. If I see a good sale on music CD-Rs, is there any reason I cannot use them for computer data files instead of for music?
Music CDRs vs Data CDRs
by 3rdalbum - 1/28/06 11:44 PM In reply to: What about music CD-Rs for data? by TerryTYou can definately burn normal computer data to "Music" CDRs. In fact, I recommend that this be done. Most CDRs made these days are terribly low quality, and I doubt that they would keep data intact for longer than a couple of years.
However, these Music CDRs (and earlier data CDs - up to 8x) use particular dyes that simply will not fade, and are also much more compatible with CD drives.
My computer has trouble reading some CDRs. The older ones read fine. The recent data ones don't read/have many errors. But the music ones always work well.
Many recent CDRs also need to be cooled down after burning before you can reliably read the data on them. Good quality CDs and Music CDs either don't need to be cooled, or they come out of the burner at room temperature.
Over/Under burning & fading - how to measure
by Kuby - 1/27/06 3:40 AM In reply to: 1/27/06 How long do burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs last? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Reading your response it makes perfect sense.
However, now I'm concerned how we will know (from blank CD/DVD purchase to another) what the quality of the CD/DVD may be? (I donl't trust sales claims.)
There appears to be a NEED on the CD/DVD for a data meter - like the outside edge track that would be used for burn testing allowing drives to test and set the best exposure write speed for that CD/DVD media to give us the longest data retention time possible. Is this not a CD/DVD industry concern? Or due to user ignorance and increased CD/DVD costs the industry is not creating solutions to fading?
There appears to be a NEED on the CD/DVD for a visual indication FADING meter - allowing a user to know when the CD/DVD is getting close to loosing data and that data transfer is required soon or suffer data loss on that CD/DVD. Without some visual meter we are all gambling with our data with Vegas odds (the house being data loss).
Since we users do not know better and do not want to waste time infront of our CD/DVD burners the solution to this problem needs to be in the actual media and or software burning programs.
Short of a change to CD/DVD the only other interum solution is a software program that tests & measures a burned CD/DVD for uniformity - indicating consistance of the burn? And measure the over/under/optimal burn exposure for that particualr CD/DVD that could be equated to potential data life remaining on that CD/DVD. Is there such a program?
PlexTools
by MrKnobs - 1/27/06 6:14 PM In reply to: Over/Under burning & fading - how to measure by KubyI think PlexTools is a pretty good program to judge both initial CD burn and to see how a CDR is holding up. It comes free with their burners, not sure how you get it otherwise.
Terry D.
CDs are not forever - what about HDs?
by sauna6 - 1/27/06 4:19 AM In reply to: 1/27/06 How long do burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs last? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
We have learned valuable lessons of the lifetime of CD-Rs and CD-RWs. Great posts.
What about hard disks? Now that those excternal HDs cost under a dollar per gigabyte, it is attempting to use them - rather than CDs - as the final and permanent storage medium for all personal data.
My 25-year old 1.4 MB diskettes still worked fine when I copied some of them to a HD last year. But will my HD last that long?
HD Life
by SelphSirv - 1/27/06 5:22 AM In reply to: CDs are not forever - what about HDs? by sauna6I've got about 4 HDs that are propbably a good 15-25 yrs old right now which work beautifully. (Old drives... of the mb and kb variety.) I also have some that dont anymore. I'd say it all depends on the individual drives. I think its Seagates and Western Digitals that I've seen work after all these years. Not a guarantee by any means though.
Its kind of like asking "How long should mt TV last?" When we have a 20yr old RCA that still works, but a 5yr old RCA that already lost the sound.
But yeah..... it is possible for HDs to last for 15yrs or more.
1.44MB floppies I thought were from 1987...
by mustangwll - 1/27/06 6:16 AM In reply to: CDs are not forever - what about HDs? by sauna6That's really interesting that you had 1.44MB floppy disks 7 years before they were invented.
Sony introduced single-sided HD 3.5" floppies in 1980 . . .
by andrucson - 1/27/06 7:16 AM In reply to: 1.44MB floppies I thought were from 1987... by mustangwllSony introduced single-sided HD (1MB unformatted) 3.5" floppies in 1980 and double-sided HD (2MB unformatted) 3.5" floppies in 1982.
I think the article you were responding to was talking about hard-drives though.
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