Ever wonder about the lifespan of cd-r's and cd-rw's?

[cage47]

I just posted a sorriful tale on Linuxnewbie.org on the failure of the recordable media on a cd-rw. I think it's important enough I'm also letting y'all here know about it but my fingers are too tired to type the whole damn story again. So check it out here:

 

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/forum/showthrea...&threadid=80387

 

Take a hard look at your cd-rw's.

[afrosheen]

From what I've read, data loss is the result of pinholing that naturally occurs in the reflective layer of cdroms over a number of years. Typical, commercial cdroms have a life span of about 10 years. Dunno about burned cd's though, could vary depending on the quality of the media.

[kmack]

http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20010719S0003

 

http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-08-02.htm

 

CD R's have different grades too and this link gives you some info, including how color indicates quality and shelf life.

 

Good to know this, especially if you are using them for backup media of important data. Sorry your data got flakey on you like that. Appreciate your reminder of this problem.

[cage47]

Eh, I didn't actually lose any data. The one that went tits up I was using to test. I just got my cdrw working in linux recently and was using that cdrw disc to test. But it never worked. That's when I noticed the edges coming off. The other disc, the one I haven't used in a while wrote fine this time but I can see a spot where some of the edge is getting ready to come off. I've used these to make backups of my /usr and /home and was getting ready to backup my latest install so the stuff on these was old from before.