Burnt Optical Media Longevity

Chimpur · May 5, 2012

I was recently reading a few articles online about the longevity of burnt optical media. Seems a few articles claim that 2 years is all you can expect from cheap burnt discs and maybe 5 for higher quality discs.

I have discs older than the 5 years and some of them have failed; while others still work. Very frustrating is some are multi disc sets that require the whole set to work

.

So what are you're opinions and experiences with old school burnt discs? Any brands better than others? Storage recommendations? Does burn speed affect the life span?

Oh and please refrain from any "Optical media is dead!"

Also what other formats might be better for long term archival of info? Floppies? Magnetic Tape drives? Cloud Storage?

eMacMan · May 5, 2012

I do buy fairly good CDs though not top of the line. I have about 30 mixed audio CDs that stay in the car. Roughly half of them are about four years old with one failed. These stay in the car winter and summer. Obviously they have frequently seen temps as low as -30°C, though due to my location they seldom suffer through extremely hot temps. All were burned at a relatively slow 4x speed. I suspect that optical media burned at the fastest speed possible may be far more likely to fail.

That said there is no such thing as archival digital media. Even now Apple has already taken the first steps towards eliminating optical media. The best you can hope for is having to move things to a different platform every few years.

For really important photo images, a hard copy done on real photo paper at your local photo lab is about as permanent as it gets. If it's really critical a second copy stored in a safety deposit box or offsite fireproof safe.

BTW pay cash for that safe as buying a safe makes you a terrorism suspect.

OOPS! Forgot that paying cash doubles the anté.

screature · May 5, 2012

eMacMan said:
I do buy fairly good CDs though not top of the line. I have about 30 mixed audio CDs that stay in the car. Roughly half of them are about four years old with one failed. These stay in the car winter and summer. Obviously they have frequently seen temps as low as -30°C, though due to my location they seldom suffer through extremely hot temps. All were burned at a relatively slow 4x speed. I suspect that optical media burned at the fastest speed possible may be far more likely to fail.

That said there is no such thing as archival digital media. Even now Apple has already taken the first steps towards eliminating optical media. The best you can hope for is having to move things to a different platform every few years.

For really important photo images, a hard copy done on real photo paper at your local photo lab is about as permanent as it gets. If it's really critical a second copy stored in a safety deposit box or offsite fireproof safe.

BTW pay cash for that safe as buying a safe makes you a terrorism suspect. OOPS! Forgot that paying cash doubles the anté.

What??

smashedbanana · May 5, 2012

I use these for archiving:

NCIX.com - Reviews of Kodak Gold Preservation Archival Grade DVD-R 8X Single Pack Jewel Case Branded - 51101.

I have been using versions of Kodak Gold on gold since my first cd-r (2x scsi) and not one has ever failed. So many cheap ones I've used for music, etc. have failed ar unreadable, the aluminum has flaked, etc.

EDIT: You can still find these, but they are hard. Some people even get a run done by kodak (huge minimum order).

In case someone is looking for these (I get mine on E-bay):

Kodak 59050 DVD-R 4.7G 24K Gold Layered Wht IJ Hub 50pk | eBay

dona83 · May 5, 2012

Ugh, I often destroy burnt media before they destroy themselves. External hard drives are so much more reliable in my possession, and cheaper too vs. archival grade media.

Chimpur · May 5, 2012

Well if you get an external drive that has say USB 2/3, fw 800, esata and maybe thunderbolt (but that's still rare)... What will that connect to in 10 or 15 years? And if you even keep some "old legacy" computer around... Will the drive work? Will the computer work? I read somewhere that if a drive were to sit a long time w/o use, even in ideal conditions; there might be a risk that the drives platters or the arms might seize. So then; how long would an ssd last? Would not the charge in the flash storage dissipate over time?

Then again... What are we keeping that we need to look this far out? I mean none of us are the Smithsonian or a museum. I'd say maybe keep things backed up appropriately to what's available now and just sort of lumber along upgrading our storage needs over time. Migration from various floppies to zip/jazz drives, to external hdd drives, to maybe external ssd; to whatever comes next in a few years... Storage needs increase, interface needs increase, large amounts of legacy data accumulate...

chas_m · May 6, 2012

I can't find a single burned CD-r of mine that has failed. Ever. We're talking "I just popped in a CD I burned 20 years ago" (multiple such discs).

Of course, I'm speaking as a guy who still has Betamax tapes and a working player. My secret on burned discs is simple: don't expose them to direct or strong reflected sunlight (ie, your car), heat, or other factors that can change the dyes. Seems to be working so far, maybe I'm just lucky.

I DID have one audio CD (a store bought one, I mean) fail due to oxidation (air between the plastic layers). Unfortunately it's also a disc that's long out of print now ... grrr.

All I do with my burned discs is put them in a jewel case or proper sleeve and keep them out of light and heat extremes. If the disc isn't defective, I see no reason why I shouldn't be able to read these 10 years from now, assuming optical drives are still available (I mean, you can still get a USB floppy disk if you REALLY need one ...).

eMacMan · May 7, 2012

Have some Kodachromes slides from the '40s in good to excellent shape. Sadly the Extachromes from that era have completely faded. B&W prints or negs for the most part are in perfect condition.

Chimpur · May 7, 2012

See thats what I'm talking about! Things were once built to last back in the day!

Burnt Optical Media Longevity

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