The Reliability of Optical Disks • Hacker News Board

Re: The Reliability of Optical Disks

#51

Post by digisign » Sat, Apr 02, 2022, 7:17 PM UTC

Would concur. I went thru all my old optical discs in ~2020 and moved all backups to 100GB Bluray. Went from dozens of discs to about three. Then I destroyed most of the old ones. (Didn't bother with some... does anyone need a copy of Netware 3.x or 4.x anymore? Even though it was so cool at the time.)

All my CDs/DVDs burned from about '97 onwards were in perfect condition. I think one deteriorated, stuff I didn't care about given to me. I never bought super-cheap ones, maybe that helped.

I did save a few "mix tape" discs from the era for nostalgia purposes. Imagine 15 of the best songs from different artists on ONE disc! It was a big kick to make your own CDs at the time... would blow people's minds, when you showed them. :-D

Re: The Reliability of Optical Disks

#52

Post by jbverschoor » Sat, Apr 02, 2022, 7:25 PM UTC

digisign wrote: post #51

Would concur. I went thru all my old optical discs in ~2020 and moved all backups to 100GB Bluray. Went from dozens of discs to about three. Then I destroyed most of the old ones. (Didn't bother with some... does anyone need a copy of Netware 3.x or 4.x anymore? Even though it was so cool at the time.) All my CDs/DVDs burned from about '97 onwards were in perfect condition. I think one deteriorated, stuff I didn't ca…

About a month ago I went trough all my CD/DVDs. Factory disks were all good. But burned disks, especially the later cheaper ones mostly were either in bad condition, or not even recognized as media.

Re: The Reliability of Optical Disks

#53

Post by robocat » Sat, Apr 02, 2022, 7:25 PM UTC

btrettel wrote: post #14

superkuh wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have many degraded CDs from 1998-2010. In 2019 almost all of them would read, eventually, even as metal flakes came off the disks. I recovered most data from most. My CD-Rs were a mix of brands, nothing special or expensive. But my CD-drives are old too, from 2006(?) or so. I wonder if like with floppy disks and drives, modern CD drives are less capable than old ones because they're no longer a premium product?

> I wonder if like with floppy disks and drives, modern CD drives are less capable than old ones because they're no longer a premium product? When I ripped CDs I had from the 00s in 2019, I used an external Blu-ray drive from probably 2018 or so. Seemed to work okay; see [0]. I didn't have access to anything older so I can't compare but I think both new and old drives are probably good. [0] https://news.ycombinator.c…

Blu-ray discs use a red laser, and CD-ROMs use an infrared laser. The drives contain two laser diodes. Skip to 5:50 in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9lbrr04XBQ

Re: The Reliability of Optical Disks

#54

Post by WalterBright » Sat, Apr 02, 2022, 7:40 PM UTC

I buy multi-terabyte drives when they go on sale (which is often) and copy everything forward once a year or so. I don't trust old media of any sort.

Re: The Reliability of Optical Disks

#55

Post by digisign » Sat, Apr 02, 2022, 7:52 PM UTC

jbverschoor wrote: post #52

digisign wrote: post #51

Would concur. I went thru all my old optical discs in ~2020 and moved all backups to 100GB Bluray. Went from dozens of discs to about three. Then I destroyed most of the old ones. (Didn't bother with some... does anyone need a copy of Netware 3.x or 4.x anymore? Even though it was so cool at the time.) All my CDs/DVDs burned from about '97 onwards were in perfect condition. I think one deteriorated, stuff I didn't ca…

About a month ago I went trough all my CD/DVDs. Factory disks were all good. But burned disks, especially the later cheaper ones mostly were either in bad condition, or not even recognized as media.

Brand? Treatment?

I just grabbed one from my DJ days: TDK dated 1997-01-01:

https://imgur.com/a/I7fokrx

Listening to it now. We are… family ♪♫♪

Re: The Reliability of Optical Disks

#56

Post by TacticalCoder » Sat, Apr 02, 2022, 7:59 PM UTC

digisign wrote: post #51

Would concur. I went thru all my old optical discs in ~2020 and moved all backups to 100GB Bluray. Went from dozens of discs to about three. Then I destroyed most of the old ones. (Didn't bother with some... does anyone need a copy of Netware 3.x or 4.x anymore? Even though it was so cool at the time.) All my CDs/DVDs burned from about '97 onwards were in perfect condition. I think one deteriorated, stuff I didn't ca…

My CDs burned in 1998 still read totally fine. TFA and your comment is, I think, what shall eventually make me move to BluRay. Any model/brand of writer/discs to recommend? (Linux here FWIW)

EDIT: btw ofc all my pressed audio CDs all work just fine. My car for whatever reason, although semi-recent, still has a CD reader and I was listening to some Ennio Morricone CD in the car 10 minutes ago!

Re: The Reliability of Optical Disks

#57

Post by digisign » Sat, Apr 02, 2022, 8:01 PM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #54

I buy multi-terabyte drives when they go on sale (which is often) and copy everything forward once a year or so. I don't trust old media of any sort.

Interesting because hard disks are not a particularly reliable form of backup. As long as you have enough copies.

Re: The Reliability of Optical Disks

#58

Post by WalterBright » Sat, Apr 02, 2022, 8:08 PM UTC

digisign wrote: post #57

WalterBright wrote: post #54

I buy multi-terabyte drives when they go on sale (which is often) and copy everything forward once a year or so. I don't trust old media of any sort.

Interesting because hard disks are not a particularly reliable form of backup. As long as you have enough copies.

I know, I've had many fail on me over the years. Quantity, though, has a quality all its own!

Re: The Reliability of Optical Disks

#59

Post by TacticalCoder » Sat, Apr 02, 2022, 8:08 PM UTC

gotaquestion wrote: post #12

I have 5-1/4" floppies the early 80's that still read fine. I wonder if 3.5" floppies from 1995 would still work. I have a feeling the media was made more robustly in the early 80's because the sensors weren't that precise, so bits were written with way more field than they needed. Maybe in the 90's when so many bits were crammed on to the 3.5" that they weren't written as strong? Perhaps the same is true of optical…

During the first lockdown I dug out my old Commodore 128 and quite a few discs were still reading fine... But not all of them. I don't remember the ratio but I'd say about 2/3rd were still working.

Re: The Reliability of Optical Disks

#60

Post by digisign » Sat, Apr 02, 2022, 8:10 PM UTC

TacticalCoder wrote: post #56

digisign wrote: post #51

Would concur. I went thru all my old optical discs in ~2020 and moved all backups to 100GB Bluray. Went from dozens of discs to about three. Then I destroyed most of the old ones. (Didn't bother with some... does anyone need a copy of Netware 3.x or 4.x anymore? Even though it was so cool at the time.) All my CDs/DVDs burned from about '97 onwards were in perfect condition. I think one deteriorated, stuff I didn't ca…

My CDs burned in 1998 still read totally fine. TFA and your comment is, I think, what shall eventually make me move to BluRay. Any model/brand of writer/discs to recommend? (Linux here FWIW) EDIT: btw ofc all my pressed audio CDs all work just fine. My car for whatever reason, although semi-recent, still has a CD reader and I was listening to some Ennio Morricone CD in the car 10 minutes ago!

For newer stuff, I have an ancient 5-7? years-old external LG BLuray/MDisc drive, and use Verbatim media. Can't speak to their longevity so definitively. They are working fine after three years. I also have a few TB external backup drive for additional-copy and rapid-access to the same data. I take an optical disc to a relative's house once a year.

Multiple copies, multiple formats, multiple locations, is the key to back up.