CD-R Lifespan / Alternative Solution

[valdi]

Hello Folks!

Recently, I came across an article at PCWORLD.com which states that CD-R lifespan is only about "two to five years." This claim was made by "Kurt Gerecke, a physicist and storage expert at IBM Deutschland."

I might just be on the denial stage, but such claim seems plainly wrong. I hope my CD-R's will last me about 15-20 years, given that I take good care of them. By then, I guess new reliable ways of storing data will immerge.

I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

Also, the same guy says that magnetic tapes have better lifespan. He further claims that hard drives aren't reliable because of bearing in them.

I think that magnetic tapes aren't cut out for personal use. If not CD-R's, then what's the next best, or perhaps the best, choice out there? Does this mean that I should look for hard drives that use quality bearing?

I would like to hear your thoughts on this, too.

PS: Personally, I would like to smack that guy right across the head for making such proposterous claims in my view.

[Kyocera]

I have not read the article, however, I have read from many sources that if you continuously re-write to the disk it will deteriorate due to the chemical composition of that type of disk. I am assuming there may be damage to the substrate by constant reading of the data due again to the chemical composition, not sure about that but I do not have the facts to support that theory. There are some tutorials I have read from About.com that explain the different types of materials and the volatility of these compounds. When the laser reads or writes data it appears to be actually a burning type process which I assume is where the term ""burn a CD" came. Check the tutorials out and you may change your mind about that whole head smacking thing.

[christopher_wolf]

One of the things I know about storage on disks is that, even though it is long term to the computer, it isn't permanent. CD-Rs can readily degrade in the proper environment, this can be caused by quite a few things and I have encountered CDRs that have undergone that process. Even 8mm backup tapes and tape drives don't last forever; if they are put in a climate controlled safe in the computer room/data center, they could last that long (Maybe to 20 years or more)...But for the average user, who carts around the storage media into different environments, that isn't a viable alternative. You also have to consider the issue that comes about because they are mass-produced products and each manufacturer has a *slightly* different process and formatting for each. Also, most HDDs use hydrodynamic fluid bearings, nothing mechanical.

See;http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib. ... 340075052F

Heck, I have even come across, CD media that decayed after 5 years into such a state as to render the data corrupted.

After a search, I found this article that has some tips http://www.pdngallery.com/cgi-bin/ubb/u ... 1;t=004710

[jdhurst]

I suggest you allow independent thought (even if there may be a flaw) without suggesting smacking the person. I have CD's that are nearing 10 years old that still work; notwithstanding, lots of CD's have failed (and I have those as well). Hard drive bearings fail with some regularity ("sticktion" I think one significant failure is called). I am not trusting of long term tape storage, but magnetic fields can last for a long time. I have lots of diskettes that work and lots that don't.

I have heard enough about CD's that I don't really trust them for long term storage. But I do not have an alternative.
... JD Hurst

[Kyocera]

JD:

I have heard enough about CD's that I don't really trust them for long term storage. But I do not have an alternative.

Paper?

[AlphaKilo470]

I have Zip 100 discs that have been laying around since 1995 or 1996 that still recieve regular usage without a hitch. I hear less than favorable reviews for the Zip 250 and 750 but the Zip 100 is by far one of the most reliable storage mediums I've used yet.The only downside to the Zip disks are their slower speed.

[jdhurst]

JD:

I have heard enough about CD's that I don't really trust them for long term storage. But I do not have an alternative.

Paper?

Not as silly as we might think. I have paper documents of importance that are in good condition and precede mainframes like the 1401. And on paper, pencil or fountain pen lasts well. Ballpoint and other like inks can bleed and cause problems. By the way, original wills accepted by the courts remain paper documents. ... JD Hurst

[christopher_wolf]

The paper should be Acid-free and generally free of volatile compounds, not to mention that most of them are kept, or should be anyway, in a climate-controlled environment.

[LtTPfan]

You might search here to find info about quality CD-R media. Generally speaking, Japan makes the best quality. There is a good post with a couple of links on the subject here somewhere. Here's one thread but not the one I was thinking of: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=10289

[Kyocera]

I was being a little fecitious there, but I can honestly say with all the computing power I have at home, I have 20 years worth of active duty army documents (rather large box full) that I just can't bring myself to part with and scan to digital format. So there they sit, unless the house burns down.

[jdhurst]

I have given some thought to a fire-proof box to put in the corner of the basement to protect the irreplaceable papers. And yes, I knew you were being facetious. Further, I am not making fun of anything or anyone, just adding to the discussion .. JD Hurst

[stevezasycho]

I use flash drives.. I have something in the ballpark of 20 or so; maybe less.. I think this is a reliable type of storage mainly because I had a 256MB flash drive that fell off my keys and fell under the tire of the car.. (Unknown to me at the time anyway) and I ran it over and drove off.. I came home probably 7 hours later and parked in a different part of the driveway and saw the ruin of the drive.. For grins I plugged it into the PC and it booted up the Windows XP I had installed on it! The way I see this, is as long as the chips remain soldered to the circuit board, and the board's integrity remains 100%, that these will last forever; until the eventual breakdown of silicon semiconductors n things.. Not bashing anyone here, but these are my findings..

[dsvochak]

I hope my CD-R's will last me about 15-20 years

Nothing lasts forever. If I remember correctly, 20 years ago all my computers had 5 1/4" floppy disks (which really were floppy). I might have a 5 1/4" floppy drive in a closet somewhere, but then again I might not. In 15-20 years CD's may be just as archaic.

I think the key is redundancy. Given the current cost of hard drives and CD-R media you can have lots of backup copies relatively cheap. It's not likely they'll all fail at the same time.

[daeojkim]

Like many have said there is no such things as permanent storage.
We all upgrade the medium when new technology is developed and more data can be densely packed.

Like dsvochak said, redundancy is the key and every few years one would have to upgrade the device depending on the need.

I personally would prefer to have a Raid server connected to home network but it is out of my budget and all of the data that I consider irreplaceable is less than 50GB.

So with a 100GB in my notebook, I make two partitions. 25 / 75. OS and programs go in the 25GB, and all other files go in the 75GB partition. Then I have an external 160GB HD that I use to duplicate the 75GB partition on my notebook regularily.

This works for me. The chance of both HD breaking at the same time is extremely low. While my data will continue to grow so will the data storage technology and when my current devices can no longer hold the amount of data that I have, I just upgrade to larger HDs.

[valdi]

Upon reading all the feedbacks, I think I'll have to start backing up my old CD-R's to a hard-drive. Zip-drives and flash memory drives lack the storage capacity, so I guess hard-drive would be the best choice for now.

And I will have to do some more research. In the mean time, I'll keep the CD-R's and see how long they last.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me and giving suggestions