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M-DISC – DVD/Blu-ray compatible discs that may last up to 1000 years

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101–105 of 105 posts

Re: M-DISC – DVD/Blu-ray compatible discs that may last up to 1000 years

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is licensing and a compatibility mark, and I distinctly recall that my Philips BD-XL writer was badged for M-DISC and touted its capabilities. https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/new-m-disc-to-pro... I ran Linux backups on BD-XL 100GB discs for awhile. I lacked access to space in a salt mine, and the M-DISC media was prohibitively expensive, and unnecessary, since the Linux system, its drives, and its ba…

> And nothing of value was lost. Depends. There are still barely any options for archival-quality digital media for regular people. M-Disc is one of them. Most of what we have access to has a <30 year shelf life.

Closer to All of the combine controller electronics with the storage medium itself, which is another point of failure, and one not easily repaired. Their lack of electrical isolation from a host, combined with their lack of true write protection, makes them vulnerable during read.

Sadly, 5.25" internal Blu-ray drives are all but extinct now, though USB-C variants are still somewhat readily available with transports from Hitachi-LG.

Re: M-DISC – DVD/Blu-ray compatible discs that may last up to 1000 years

#102

Verbatim, who owns M-Disc, doesn't even manufacture discs anymore. They just slap their brand on other peoples discs. The discs sold as M-Discs now are actually just MABL BD-R's. They used to have a 'stone' data layer. Now they use a titanium metal data layer. MABL discs were always designed to last for about 100 years, and are orders of magnitude cheaper. 100 years is long enough, and 1000 years was always a wild-as…

> These same discs are sold with a "Guarantee" as archival discs that are tested with heat/stress to last that 100 years, but any MABL disc really should,and they're much cheaper if you just get regular MABL discs.

Is there any kind of 'binning' going on that would make them different? A lot of things are made on the same assembly line, but after QC testing certain batches may be treated differently depending on the results.

Re: M-DISC – DVD/Blu-ray compatible discs that may last up to 1000 years

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 100 years is long enough, and 1000 years was always a wild-ass theoretical abstraction. The software will be an issue before the hardware anyway inevitably

The hardware will definitely be a problem. Optical heads have elastomeric parts that are unlikely to last a century. They have precision plastic components that may become brittle. All of the knowhow and specialist tools to make and service them will be gone. USB and the drivers will still be around barring a complete collapse of civilization.

> USB and the drivers will still be around barring a complete collapse of civilization.

Famous last words. At the current state of software you will need a specific UEFI version with a specific certificate (which expired in 6 days) running a specific Windows version with specific drivers version. Damn, even LTO, which is used for archiving, is only compatible with 1 generation behind. The human race is only able to make things to last, by accident.

Re: M-DISC – DVD/Blu-ray compatible discs that may last up to 1000 years

#104

Verbatim, who owns M-Disc, doesn't even manufacture discs anymore. They just slap their brand on other peoples discs. The discs sold as M-Discs now are actually just MABL BD-R's. They used to have a 'stone' data layer. Now they use a titanium metal data layer. MABL discs were always designed to last for about 100 years, and are orders of magnitude cheaper. 100 years is long enough, and 1000 years was always a wild-as…

> Verbatim, who owns M-Disc, doesn't even manufacture discs anymore. They just slap their brand on other peoples discs.

They're owned by one of the other disc manufacturers (CMC Magnetics), so I think they're technically putting their name on their own discs. But, "they" is CMC now.

Re: M-DISC – DVD/Blu-ray compatible discs that may last up to 1000 years

#105
post #84

Verbatim, who owns M-Disc, doesn't even manufacture discs anymore. They just slap their brand on other peoples discs. The discs sold as M-Discs now are actually just MABL BD-R's. They used to have a 'stone' data layer. Now they use a titanium metal data layer. MABL discs were always designed to last for about 100 years, and are orders of magnitude cheaper. 100 years is long enough, and 1000 years was always a wild-as…

Kind of interesting how analog media is still the best archival media. Throw your data on a stone tablet it's going to last 10,000 years.

The older M-Data discs actually claimed to use a stone data layer.
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