Do burned CDs have a short lifespan?

[China]

Do burned CDs have a short lifespan?

John Blau, IDG News Service

Tue Jan 10, 8:00 AM ET

Opinions vary on how to preserve data on digital storage media, such as optical CDs and DVDs. Kurt Gerecke, a physicist and storage expert at IBM Deutschland, has his own view: If you want to avoid having to burn new CDs every few years, use magnetic tapes to store all your pictures, videos and songs for a lifetime.

"Unlike pressed original CDs, burned CDs have a relatively short life span of between two to five years, depending on the quality of the CD," Gerecke says. "There are a few things you can do to extend the life of a burned CD, like keeping the disc in a cool, dark space, but not a whole lot more."

The problem is material degradation. Optical discs commonly used for burning, such as CD-R and CD-RW, have a recording surface consisting of a layer of dye that can be modified by heat to store data. The degradation process can result in the data "shifting" on the surface and thus becoming unreadable to the laser beam.

"Many of the cheap burnable CDs available at discount stores have a life span of around two years," Gerecke says. "Some of the better-quality discs offer a longer life span, of a maximum of five years."

Distinguishing high-quality burnable CDs from low-quality discs is difficult, he says, because few vendors use life span as a selling point.

Click on the link for the full article

[codeorama]

IMO, the best thing is to invest in a portable external hard drive. I bought a 250 gig Iomega drive that I use to store music, pictures and movies. It's awesome and you can easily transport it to multiple computers.

[China]

IMO, the best thing is to invest in a portable external hard drive. I bought a 250 gig Iomega drive that I use to store music, pictures and movies. It's awesome and you can easily transport it to multiple computers.

Also in the article:

Hard-drive disks also have their limitations, according to Gerecke. The problem with hard drives, he says, is not so much the disk itself as it is the disk bearing, which has a positioning function similar to a ball bearing. "If the hard drive uses an inexpensive disk bearing, that bearing will wear out faster than a more expensive one," he says. His recommendation: a hard-drive disk with 7200 revolutions per minute.

[codeorama]

That's what I got...

[Jeff*RedskinsReview]

I'll add that burned CD-Rs really vary, and not just by brand. I have some Imations that still play perfect after five years. Yep, five. Others from the same batch got odd dirt-looking swipes on them, presumably from some player I put it in. Some Maxell CD-Rs from long ago (when the discs were completely writing/logo free) still play without issue. Very odd. Just avoid the cheap stuff.

And then there was the CD labeller mistake. For some reason, nearly every CD-R with a CD Stomper label ends up getting choppy/scratchy in the audio--even those played once and then stored. That went for DVD-Rs too, so my Star Wars--I mean, home video--copies went to pot in no time. No label = no problem. Sad because I loved the creative process.

[SkinnedAussie]

I used to use Stomper type labels on my DVD back-ups, but I had a problem with the label lifting, so have gently peeled them all off and now just write the contents on the disc itself.

I use TDK DVD-R's, with the white printable surface, so I'll continue to do what I currently do until I get a printer that can print directly to the disc.

[TC4]

IMO, the best thing is to invest in a portable external hard drive. I bought a 250 gig Iomega drive that I use to store music, pictures and movies. It's awesome and you can easily transport it to multiple computers.

That's kinda like what I did

I got a 250 gig Western Digital HD and a hard drive enclosure that has all my music on it now