CD-rot

[Binnatics]

I read an article in the newspaper today about CD-rot. It appears that many, if not all CD's have their expiration date, some even a few years away from purchase. :o

The writer of the article found out that one of his favourite, home made greatest hits CD's of Joe Cocker was not giving the full experience as used to anymore. When he started investigating his collection, he could throw away most of his collection of home-made, self-burnt CD's. After some more investigating he found out that all CD producers have their 'quality standard' in which the life expectancy is one of the variables. Many empty CD's you could buy back in the days were of such poor quality, that CD-rot would ruin your music or whatever data you burnt to it after 2 or 3 years already :o :o
What actually can happen to a disc is that the chemicals used to create the 'silver' data storage layer, start reacting with eachother due to heat, oxygen, moisture, acid, you name it. These materials can also ruin the outside of your disc, meaning that the 'plastic' that should let the laser light go in and out without interference loses its transparency and also causes your data to be unrecoverable.

He did some research to what kind of memory most data centres nowadays use for their services, and discovered that the good old magnetic memory storage, yes we are talking about the good old cassettes, still have the longest lifespan in secure data storage; 30 to 100 years!!

Why didn't they tell us? \:/ \:/

The good part is, that most original music discs have special protection layers that prevent CD-rot and will last a lot longer than the poorly designed burn-it-yourself-discs. So the music discs you bought originally will remain in good condition for longer and will probably last for 30 years before they start to dissolve in time

Our modern tech data storages will definitely not last long enough to tell history a thousand years from here, like the good cuneiform or prehistoric wall carvings do 8)

[Stiku]

Well I remember this topic from the late 90's, back then we allready knew about this.
But the interesting part is the magnetic tapes, I have never seen anybody store stuff in those containers more than 5 years, as they tend to start go bad after that, unless kept in very sterile and shielded from magnetic fields(note that even lead, has a magnetic field around it)

Just to clarify, most backups are regularly backed up again, and the companies that are specialised to keep stuff are using metallic disc to store information(hard drive is an example of metallic disc's inside of them), so they usually store only the disc's in cages that are built for the purpose.

[Art Blade]

I too have known since the 90s about the fact that CDs decompose. I have commercially produced music CDs that are about 20 years old and still w@&k while indeed those you buy for burning backups have all gone to s...t after a few years.

My cassette tapes are still functional after nearly 30 years. The FE type are still good while the CrO2 type lost some of their dynamic.

[Binnatics]

I remember the TDK SA90 cassettes. They were the best! That's what we thought, back then. No idea what's left of those, should check it out. I still got a descent working Sony tape deck. Not top of the bill, but good, nevertheless.

Vinyl still seems to persevere as long as you take good care so they don't scratch. Great old technology :) :-X

[Art Blade]

I have excellent quality vinyls that are 30+ years old, so yes :) And I remember TDK SA90 :) I still have got two 90 minutes cassettes in their original packing, unopened, one is a TKD "CD-ing" with an image of a CD on it (lol) and the other one is a BASF cassette. They're probably 20 years old hehe

[Dweller_Benthos]

Yeah CD rot for burned CDs is a definite thing. I have some that only lasted a few years. It's the nature of the beast, the burnable CD has a layer of photo-reactive (or was it heat  sensitive?) material that the laser changes to create the data stream. Not something you want to use for any long term storage. Having said that, the first few music CDs I made are still going good, maybe 15 years later? I only have a few now, as most have been replaced by actual "silver" pressed CDs once those titles got re-issued. Manufactured CDs have a pretty long lifespan, the plastic is fairly stable, if kept out of the sun and stuff, and they are coated with aluminum to create the reflective surface, unless you have one of those fancy gold ones. The lacquer that is on the top is about the least stable material, that's the part you look at with the graphics silk screened on it. As long as that remains in good condition the CD itself should remain usable for quite some time.

[Binnatics]

I also have some self-burnt CD's that last over 15 years already without loosing quality, but I also have found degraded ones amongst my collection. I lost an album of Marco Antonio Solis to that, which makes me really sad. The music on it had a special meaning for me, and now it's gone :-\\
But I'll find it once again in a record store or on the net one day, I'm sure ^-^

I wonder what the quality of the bluray discs will be ????

[mandru]

I've bought plenty of read/write/rewrite CDs - DVDs but have always been too lazy to figure out how to use the burner to store anything on them.

Now this thread makes it sounds like that wasn't completely a bad thing.  :)

[Art Blade]

mandru. :-D :-X

[fragger]

After a few years of use, CDs make great coasters! And if you live in the country, you can dangle them from your awnings to scare the birds away. They w@&k a treat :-D

[Binnatics]

  :-X

[Art Blade]

 :-D