Recordable CD/DVD Lifespan (1 Viewer)

[SethH]

I just read an interesting article which can be read here . I've always known that recordable CD's or DVD's would have a shorter lifespan than commercially produced media, however the physicist in the article claims that the highest quality recordable CD's will only last about 5 years and the cheaper CD's will last closer to 2 years.

I just wanted to see if anyone has read similar information or possibly different information. Also, has anyone had experience with these going bad?

It will be interesting to see if there is a massive backlash against some consumer electronics companies in a few years when people who have used CD's and DVD's to backup pictures and home movies are no longer able to access their files.

 

[MarkHastings]

I have many Data CD's that were burned between 1996 - 1998 and they all still work perfectly fine.

Of course, I NEVER buy cheap media, but still...we're talking 9 years so far.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I ALWAYS buy the cheapest media I can find. As I type this, there's spindle of 75 DVD+Rs and 25 CD-Rs from no-name brand that I for ten bucks at Best Buy on Black Friday.
I mention all of that so that I can note that when converting compressing my abundent number of CD-Rs to a less insane number of DVD+Rs, all of the discs read fine and copied fine, even ones with scratches and stains on their data surface. I think this threat is overblown. I'm sure it happens, but if you keep your CDs in cases and containers, I wouldn't worry too much.
Maybe I'll have less luck with the DVD+Rs (with their far smaller pit size) when I go to back them up onto the next big format.

 

[ChristopherDAC]

Heh. The "expert" says that the best thing to do is back up on magnetic tape! Emulsion shedding, print-through, and -- of course -- the rapid obsolescence of digital tape formats make that a bad idea in my book. Sure, the "100-year archival lifespan" claimed by recordable optical media is dubious at best, but there are standards for figuring media life, and I expect a good CD-R will last a good long time. Cellulose nitrate films, with silver halide emulsion, stored at freezing temperature, is still the winner, though.