Report: CD-Rs Are not Reliable

[exfileme]

While manufacturers tout extremely long life spans, a recent test showed CD-R failure with disks older than seven years.

Report: CD-Rs Are not Reliable : Read more

 

[JasonAkkerman]

This just in, water is wet!

Really, who expects a CD-R to last 9-10 years?

 

[d_kuhn]

IMO The key to keeping data safe is REDUNDANCY. Don't rely on any one technology or technique and assume your data is going to be there. DVD-R's and CD-R's are good for storage (especially the better quality discs), but if I REALLY want to keep a file safe I always store it on a drive in addition to burning it to media, and the drive I store to is regularly backed up. It doesn't mean the data is 100% safe but it's pretty darn close.

 

[Wayoffbase]

The only real way to safeguard data is to chisel it into stone, and only a fraction of that is going to survive. Everything printed on paper or stored in digital form is temporary.

 

[jawshoeaw]

I'm tempted to shout fir....! Never trusted CDs, DVDs or any other storage media for that matter, for longer than a few years. But then, that's how long data is usually important, until advent of digital photography, etc. So far, leapfrogging (buy a new one every few years) hard drives is medium of choice, with online backup of a few other things. But what about the family "photo album"?

Read an article a few years ago that said the most secure form of data storage was pigment based ink on archival quality paper - believed to last hundreds of years. You can print 2D array of data which can be easily read with inexpensive scanners. Downside is "areal density", a little low.

 

[San Pedro]

[citation][nom]Wayoffbase[/nom]The only real way to safeguard data is to chisel it into stone, and only a fraction of that is going to survive. Everything printed on paper or stored in digital form is temporary.[/citation]
Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind. . .

 

[Clintonio]

Anything is temporary, full stop.

---

I'm not suprised to be honest. These days though, I'd archive a lot of things online. Or in a RAID1 configuration. Then, take the disks out and put them in storage seperately.

 

[jacobdrj]

Yeah... Better off keeping things on hard drives in raid array and just upgrade to higher capacity drive periodically...

 

[apache_lives]

I dont trust any of my data (single copy wise) on any media as they have all proven utterly useless.

Ill stick to my 3 servers

 

[michaelahess]

I have 5.25 inch floppies that still work and they are over 20 years old, supposedly they aren't supposed to last that long. I've also got 11 year old cd-r's that are still working great.

 

[one-shot]

[citation][nom]Clintonio[/nom]Anything is temporary, full stop. ---I'm not suprised to be honest. These days though, I'd archive a lot of things online. Or in a RAID1 configuration. Then, take the disks out and put them in storage seperately.[/citation]

RAID 1 is not a backup solution.

 

[maigo]

I've never had high hopes about digital media lifespans. I vote stone tablets or stainless steel punchcards

 

[okibrian]

Now what am I going to do with all my pirated copies?

 

[Wayoffbase]

[citation][nom]maigo[/nom]I've never had high hopes about digital media lifespans. I vote stone tablets or stainless steel punchcards[/citation]
was it the mormons or the scientoligists that had their magic spells etched on titanium plates? I always get those two mixed up.

 

[Guest]

Many (almost all) of my 1995 CD ROM disks are unreadable.
Fewer DVD's than CDROM's have flaws.
I also seem to notice that some DVD's are hard to not readable on my laptop, while they are readable on my desktop.
I don't know why.

Also, I had many files backed up on an external HD, but it fell off a chair, and the axis broke. At that time it would have been restored for $700, but I decided that the data on it was not worth $700; so I just spend a couple of months looking for online versions of the original software and files I had back then.

So far SSD's are said to last longest, but I need to see about that first! So far one of my USB flash memory sticks (with USB1 interface) seem to last at least 3 years without failing, but haven't been tested thoroughly yet.

 

[Guest]

The internet and TPB is a good source for backups!
Loads of guys willing to host your original program for a couple of months to years, without server costs!

 

[Guest]

Old news to me, I've witnessed CD/DVD burned discs degradation first hand, and in the area where you don't expect the kind of degradation in display.

 

[Shadow703793]

[citation][nom]ProDigit80[/nom]The internet and TPB is a good source for backups!Loads of guys willing to host your original program for a couple of months to years, without server costs![/citation]
Bad idea. Assuming it's not encrypted.

Anyways, more people should check out GmailFS:http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GmailFS

 

[Maxor127]

I've never had a DVD or CD magically go bad until I built my new computer with Vista installed. Don't know if it's my burner or Vista, but a lot of times when I burn a DVD, I'll get redundancy errors when I try to copy or access files from it on another computer installed with XP. But it worked fine in Vista. So everytime I burn a disc on my computer, I have to copy its contents to the HD of another computer to make sure it burned right with no errors.

 

[anhxeom]

I remembered back when CD-R drives were just beginning to become available, CD-R disc manufacturer were advertising them to last more than 100 years. I still have a box of TDK blanks that is advertised to last 70 years, it's printed on the package.