SillyDog701

[James]

I just read this in another group and wondered if anyone has read the entire article and knows about the possible deterioration of CD-R's over time. The author seemed to suggest that we could expect a breakdown after only two years with some. What is the point of burning your photographs then? This worries me so I'm curious what others think:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/sci ... ory=513486

[i]Edit, subject changed from “Worry Newsâ€

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.6) Gecko/20040206 Firefox/0.8

[Antony]

Well, it is certainly true. The 100-year of life time was based on those manufactured CD media, such as music CD bought from shops, not the home-burnt (home-made) versions.

As a common rule, don't buy cheap blank CDs. And verify your burnt data after burning. Still, gold or silver colour of blank CD-Rs are generally more reliable.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.7b) Gecko/20040421

[James]

Thanks, Antony. You have a new digital camera so I imagine you are going to archive many of your images. What type of CD-R will you use in order to get the greatest longevity? CD-RW? Brand?

It said something about the CD-RW having a metallic base rather than a colour-dye. Do you know anything about this? Thanks.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.6) Gecko/20040206 Firefox/0.8

[Antony]

Thanks, Antony. You have a new digital camera so I imagine you are going to archive many of your images. What type of CD-R will you use in order to get the greatest longevity? CD-RW? Brand?

To be honest, I haven't archived any images into CD-Rs. They are all in my HDD. Thank you for reminding me.

However, a few Netscape Archives CDs I created back in 1999 are still in good condition. They were using quite expensive blank CD-R discs back then. I might make a second copy later on.

As for CD-R discs, there are a few different dyes, including cyanine (green), pthalo-cyanine (yellow-gold) and metal-zeo (blue).

From my personal experience, don't buy green one. Nothing but trouble. Gold is usually the best, but more expensive. And some blues are quite good as well. I used to use Kodak CD-R Ultima series, now, I use TDK series.
It's really hard to say which one is the best, the general rule (gold is the best) may not apply to all. My suggestion, don't buy the cheapest, and burn them as slightly lower speed then the maximum it can support.
And test a few different brands if possible.

It said something about the CD-RW having a metallic base rather than a colour-dye. Do you know anything about this? Thanks.

Well, for CD-R, the basic principle (principal, not sure which word) is one of the chemical layer will get changed when heat with strong laser (writing) bean, but can stay its state with laser (reading) bean. Different energies and might be different frequencies being used.
As for CD-RW, there're more layers, and a phase changing layer.
The phase change is a pure optical technology (not the magnetic). A short, high-intensity laser pulse turns a bit in the recording layer from its natural state (reflective) to a different state (dull, non-reflective). A medium intensity pulse restores the dull state back to reflective. To read the data from CD-RW, they use low-intensity pulse.
Now, that's the reason I don't really like/trust CD-RWs. In CD-RWs, that particular layout (storing information) is not so stable, when compare to CD-Rs (write once). The second problem about CD-RWs is that slow writing and reading speed. That is to say if you record the CD-RW at 4x, it can only be read at 4x.

I am not sure about the metallic base, all I know was that layer would get changed with different intensity pulse.

Opto-electronic was my major in my undergraduate.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/124 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/125.1

[James]

Thanks, Antony. You've given me a lot to think about. I appreciate your help.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.6) Gecko/20040206 Firefox/0.8

[Mandrake]

Back in 1997/1998 when CD-Rs cost $5.00 or so, i used Sony CD-Rs, I still have several CDs from back then that are in great condition.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7b) Gecko/20040421

[djv1]

I know I bought some Memorx cdr's last year and Ipayed a fair price for them, but I relize that most CD players don'nt like them, but if u want good cheap cd's, get some called Perfect Media, There as cheap as dirt and still work good.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0)

[keith]

I bought some cheap cd's once to back up some music files and the cd started to skip and stuff after time. Is that because they are cheap or because i burned them too fast?

I buy memorex cd's and have good luck with them

Keith.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0)

[James]

Some more information I've been gathering:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?f ... 1001820999

http://www.medialinenews.com/issues/200 ... 14.1.shtml

http://www.cdrfaq.org/

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.6) Gecko/20040206 Firefox/0.8

[Wellander]

Hi,
Floppies and Zip disks is what I use and they seem to last forever.
I have some 20+ year old floppies that still work today.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.5; Windows NT 5.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)

[Antony]

Well, for really important discs, you will need to store them in a separate location that is away from Sun, dust, and strong magnetic (or EM) source.

As for floppies and Zip discs, make sure you store them away from EM sources (including magnet, TV, microwave oven, power points, etc). You can get a magnetic shield box, that'd be great.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/124 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/125.1

[keith]

I put a 5 1/4 floppy drive in my windows 95 machine to back up something unimportant and floppies. i have games for my 286 i found in a box 25 years or older and they still work.

keith.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.5; Windows 98; Win 9x 4.90)

[Wellander]

I put a 5 1/4 floppy drive in my windows 95 machine to back up something unimportant and floppies. i have games for my 286 i found in a box 25 years or older and they still work.

keith.

Perhaps there is a modified echo here.
I said

Hi,
Floppies and Zip disks is what I use and they seem to last forever.
I have some 20+ year old floppies that still work today.

Sorry I am a little upset right now.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.5; Windows NT 5.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)

[Edward]

Well, it is certainly true. The 100-year of life time was based on those manufactured CD media, such as music CD bought from shops, not the home-burnt (home-made) versions.

As a common rule, don't buy cheap blank CDs. And verify your burnt data after burning. Still, gold or silver colour of blank CD-Rs are generally more reliable.

Are you referring to the side that is burned? If so, the only color I've seen for CD-R discs, is blue.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.6) Gecko/20040113

[Wellander]

Hi,
Tape drives are also good.
I use them alot.
The data lasts a long time.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0; Windows 98)