It is about cd-disk ...?

[Mandriva-user]

Alberta ,Edmonton

 

So you think all the precious digital pictures you have been saving on CD-ROM are safe?

Think again.

Expert agree,many CDs made with computer-equipped CD burners will not make it past five years.

"Although CD-writing technology has matured,blank CD media is still unpredictable," says Susan Munro of Edmonton-based Mehco Inc.,a CD-ROM duplicating and replicating service.

Munro`s attributes the short CD life to poor sealing of disk edges,allowing moisture and air to seep in and corrode the recorded digital information.

Munro`s best advice for consumers who want to be sure of the quality of CD media they buy is stick with a good brand name and don`t worry about the higher prices.Blank CD cost from 40 cents to $1 each.

But the fact is "stores and consumers have no way of knowing how good blank CDs are,"Munro says.

"the best way a store knows is by the nuilurember of costumer complaining about one particular brand."

Surprisingly.very few stores are aware of longevity issues with recordable CDs,but most say a 10-per-cent failure rate is acceptable.

Computer professionals warn that digital information should not be kept on any medium for more than five years.

That includes hard-drives,floppy drives and data tapes.

"Almost nothing last forever,so the best way maximize the security of important infomation is to store it in as many different ways as possible,[i don`t understand maximize.........,what does he try to saying?," said Martin Parry,spokesman for hard-drive maker Maxtor.Depite hard-drive` low failure rate ,one should back up data,he says.

 

It was on 30 October,2002 The province news-paper

 

Any comment?

 

:roll: :roll: :wink:

[Guest anon]

Yes, i have heard that said many times over the years about h-drives and cds, it maybe true, or a sales ploy to get you to buy new cd and h-drives every few years. I have got stuff on cds going back a lot longer than five years, "touch wood" their still OK

[Glitz]

I posted this at the other board too.

 

This has been an issue ever since CDs were first introduced to the public. Even the mass produced CDs (songs, etc.) can die at an early age if air leaks in and oxidizes the aluminum reflective backing. Then when CDRs were introduced there was concern about the dyes being used. The more unstable green dye (I forget the chemical name) was rated for 10 years maximum and the good dye (the gold coloured one) was rated for 100 years. There was no problem with oxidation of the reflective surface because at that time everyone used gold as the reflective material. In time improvements to the unstable dye (the green one) and a new blue dye have increased the rated lifetime for those disks so the concern died away.

 

Now, however, in an attempt to cut costs manufacturers have moved away from the gold reflective backing to silver. Silver (as anyone with a silver dinnerware set can attest to) oxidizes rather fast when exposed to oxygen. So now the problem of improperly sealed CDRs has resurfaced. Even Kodak (who generally use the highest quality dye and gold reflective layer) have moved away from gold for their data disks (they still use it in their audio CDRs though) but have not gone to a pure silver layer. They have a silver/gold alloy which does not oxidize as rapidly and therefore extends the lifetime of the CDR (they rate it for 50 years). Some manufacturers look like they use a gold layer but in fact it is only painted gold.

 

CDRW media is only meant for short term storage and I have never seen reports on the longevity of either the dye used or the backing material.

 

Glitz.

 

PS. My oldest CDRs are about 6 years old (Kodak Writable CDs) and they still work fine. The best bet though, is to make at least two copies of any data you want to keep and try reading them every few years to make sure they are still good. As soon as you start getting errors it is time to make a set of fresh copies. And most of all, keep them out of direct sunlight, hot places, and places of high humidity.