Tech Myths: CD Chills and Phone Thrills

[Tomsguiderachel]

[citation][nom]thackstonns[/nom]The part of the story I dont understand is how you made it through high school listening to Prince. I am suprised you didnt get beat up on a daily basis.[/citation]
Prince rocks!

 

[Evolution2001]

Does anyone doubt anymore that recordable media goes bad? I have over 300 movies backed up on DVD by a "Brand A" and the remaining of my collection (500+) on "Brand B" discs. I switched to Brand B because I was hearing bad things about Brand A. Sure enough, months/years later at least 1 out of 3 Brand A discs are barely playable in my DVD player. The first batch of Brand B discs which now are about the same age as the last Brand A discs are still solid. Good thing my first batch of discs are just backups and not my only source.
For reference, the CD Freaks forums are the best reference for media quality of discs and burners. That's where I learned of my coming tragedy. A lot of very talented and intelligent people over there.

As for the CD's chosen? I'm with William on this one. "Houses of the Holy" and "Momentary Lapse of Reason" were my first CD's.

 

[Guest]

i freeze my windows vista disk for 1 year now i have a windows seven!!

 

[Major7up]

First to hellwig who said about his CompUSA branded disks 'The reflective layer on the CDs was actually the backside of the label on the top surface'. All cd/dvd/hd-dvd/blu-ray and other similar media is this way and there are no disks where the reflective layer is on the bottom. Some media has an additional label or covering on top of the reflective layer but the reflective part is always affixed to the top part or the clear plastic disk. If you think about it, how else could disk cleaners possibly work? They buff out scratches on the clear plastic by removing a small amount of the surface material (part of which fills the gaps/scratches). If the reflective layer was on the bottom then you would never be able to repair it in that manner (and sometimes you can't anyways).
Secondly, as Codesmith mentioned, data on cd's is stored digitally as ones and zeroes. Freezing your disc does not and should not alter the data stored on the disc. This just makes no sense at all and it seems even sillier that anyone at tom's would ever consider testing such claims knowing how a cd's work in the first place. It's almost as silly as saying that freezing dead batteries will get you more usage out of them.

 

[Guest]

I wonder if storing a CD over a prolonged time in the freezer would benefit compared to keeping it at room temperature.
Most of my self burned CD's of the '90's are all done for!
Some CD's and DVD's of 2000-2004 show errors.
I understand the tests with keeping a CD in the freezer overnight is bogus. But perhaps as a method of storing the info for years, could give some better results!

Also, if a CD is 'bad', is there a possibility to play it back on another device to recover the data (eg: dvd player, or blueray player, or a very old CD ROM device)?

 

[Major7up]

[citation][nom]ProDigit80[/nom]I wonder if storing a CD over a prolonged time in the freezer would benefit compared to keeping it at room temperature.Most of my self burned CD's of the '90's are all done for!Some CD's and DVD's of 2000-2004 show errors.I understand the tests with keeping a CD in the freezer overnight is bogus. But perhaps as a method of storing the info for years, could give some better results!Also, if a CD is 'bad', is there a possibility to play it back on another device to recover the data (eg: dvd player, or blueray player, or a very old CD ROM device)?[/citation]
I would not think so. The pinholes that are referred to in the article are parts of the reflective layer than are missing and I don't see how you can get something back that is no longer present.

 

[kingnoobe]

You may not be able to get back the data that is gone, but I think he means to recover some of the data. And there are ways to do this. Which is why people dont' just break cd's in half when they don't want the data read. They cook them in some form or fashion.