Storage

[alrmc4]

just found this thought you may be interested:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?story=513486

 

[reefrunner69]

Awesome article, thanks!

 

[BillyZ]

It's worth noting in that article that they DO state that not ALL CDRs are of that poor quality. IMO, you get what you pay for. AND, something thats extremely important to note, that some some of the cheaper CDRs "die" so quickly because they A) are cheap and B) are used frequently like a normal CD.

Most CDRs are made only of the polymer layer and the plastic layer to support it, such as:

-------------------- Polymer
[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]] Plastic

Your data is written to the polymer layer. Any damage to that layer and there is data loss. Better CDRs (and most pre-recorded CDs) have a chemical layer over the polymer layer to protect the data.

*************** Chemical protective layer
-------------------- Polymer
[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]] Plastic

that extra layer is the difference between $.10 a disk and $.40 a Disk but can also be the difference between lasting 18 months and few years (with frequent use)


now the claims of 100-200 years archival are just that archival life spans. This means you burn the data, put the disc in a hard plastic case and put it away. You pull it out once or twice a year to access it then put it back into safe storage. If that's what you're doing with the CD (and you didn't purchase the $.10 a cd spindle) you should be just fine. I have CDrs that are many years old (4-5 years) that I can still read just fine. I did the above research before buying those blank CDs as I was curious why some CDs were 10 cents each and others 50 cents each.

And, as the article states, what thay polymer layer is made of can also make a big difference.

 

[jackdp]

Here's a story I just read today on this topic....

http://comcast.net/News/TECHNOLOGY//XML/1700_High_Tech/233d65cc-7357-4bf1-bae7-97bb82206c8e.html