Longevity of Recordable CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays (2020)
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Re: Longevity of Recordable CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays (2020)
#2I still have my first recorded CD from 94 early 95 with a beta version of windows 95 plus some other utilities from the time, it still reads fine.
Re: Longevity of Recordable CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays (2020)
#3I thought all libraries using optical discs technology migrated to M-DISCs already.
Re: Longevity of Recordable CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays (2020)
#4I still have my first recorded CD from 94 early 95 with a beta version of windows 95 plus some other utilities from the time, it still reads fine.
> the lifetime of recordable optical discs can range from a couple of years to more than 200 years
You are still in that range then
Re: Longevity of Recordable CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays (2020)
#5I still have my first recorded CD from 94 early 95 with a beta version of windows 95 plus some other utilities from the time, it still reads fine.
Do you test the data is identical? I've got a stack of old CD-R's containing mp3 files from 20 years ago and lots have unreadable files or worse: data that reads correctly but won't play without glitches. (corrupt mp3's can produce loud spikes that are very bad for your ears and/or audio equipment)
Most are fine though.
Re: Longevity of Recordable CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays (2020)
#6I've stopped using burned CDs and DVDs like 15 years ago, long before they were considered obsolete, after losing a huge amount of data, including multiple backups of projects. All of them were kept in their own case on a wall CD/DVD holder, no weights, no humidity, no excessive heat or any sun exposition. After only about 5 years like 30% of them were unreadable at all and others developed errors, so as soon as I realized what was going on I backed up everything I could to hard drives in multiple copies, dumped them all and stopped using that media completely.
Printed media last a lot more, but those CD/DVD R/RW to me are too unreliable to be used for anything beyond the occasional OS image install where USB boot isn't available.
Re: Longevity of Recordable CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays (2020)
#7I thought all libraries using optical discs technology migrated to M-DISCs already.
Do we actually know that M-DISCs are much better than ordinary discs regarding longevity? I wasn't really convinced by the wikipedia page
Re: Longevity of Recordable CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays (2020)
#8I thought all libraries using optical discs technology migrated to M-DISCs already.
Primary data aquisition aquired during the 1980s is still stored as "original" on various optical formats .. although secondary copies have been made.
Exploration | geophysical | seismic surveys that "can never be repeated" ( the atmosphere | climate | ground has changed since ) and cost thousands to millions per day to acquire have troves of original copies - SEG-9 (SEG-21) track tapes, DAT tape, optical discs, that tend to be preserved "for reference" despite much of the data having migrated media-wise forward.
Re: Longevity of Recordable CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays (2020)
#9I used to be concerned about optical media longevity. I bought Taiyo-Yuden discs. I checked their integrity. I stored them carefully. But the format became obsolete (for me) long before the media degraded. Recordable discs are just too small for the backup use case I had. Optical drives are still available of course, but they are now rarely standard with a new PC or laptop, and soon will become specialist components, and then it won’t be long before the drives become a greater limit to longevity than the media.
Re: Longevity of Recordable CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays (2020)
#10I'm quite surprised that CD-Rs have such a long potential longevity, though I suppose they are only a certain kind (that I almost certainly have never used when I was burning CD-Rs) that are designed to be more durable. It also kind of assumes that they're keeping them in an environment suitable for archival purposes, which does not exist in my home. Still, even the lesser CD-Rs are rated for much longer than what I would have pegged them at, given just how many CD-Rs I have that have already begun deteriorating. Perhaps the ones I was buying in giant spindles weren't advisable for archival use. I've many CD-R that I or friends have burned that have their layering flaking off, making them completely useless, and I'm sure that many people out there do as well, which is why I am skeptical of using them for anything important.
In the end, for people's personal archives, they should certainly follow typical data integrity advice (i.e. the 3-2-1 rule) and also importantly, heavily curating what they choose to hold on to.