DVD-RW deterioration vs HDD

[sallam]

Greetings
I have lots of DVD-RW media that I bought in cheap spindles between one and 2 years ago. They used to serve me fine.
But now, whenever I try to rewrite avi movie files on them, the movies freeze horribly during playback.
Is this a known deficiency for DVD-RW after aging for a year or 2?
I've read somewhere that they use some organic materials on dvd coating. Is that why they deteriorate after some time?

I also buy cheap DVD-R and +R media, but they last longer, I don't know why..

Buying top expensive media is not an option for my tight budget. In that case, should I avoid using DVD-RW altogether and find another means of storage, such as usb flash or hdd or what? I mean hd drives are getting cheaper now, and we can buy 500gb for $60, which equals 50 cents per 4.3gb

[Kerry56]

DVDRW disks use a phase change metallic alloy, not organic dye like one time recordable dvds.
Many cheap RW disks are known to wear out/fail very early, so you don’t save money by buying cheap.

Some DVD-R and DVD+R disks are prone to early failure too, you may have just gotten lucky with yours.

If you are going to continue to buy DVDRW, I’d suggest Verbatim DVD +RW disks. DVDRam disks are longer lasting if you have the capability to burn them, but they are very expensive per disk.

As for other storage, it depends on how mobile it has to be. Flash drives in the 8-16gb range are fairly reasonable if you need portability, and are using small files.

Hard drives and flash drives fail too, so there isn’t a really bullet proof means of storage. Spreading the risk around to different media is one strategy, but not dirt cheap.

[AllanDeGroot]

THE thing about RW media is that the difference between reflective and non-reflective, the “1” & “0”, is the difference bwteen the melted metal layer being in it’s amorphous (non crystaline) state
OR it’s crystaline state.

the difference is accomplished not by the way the alloy melts but how the alloy is allowed to “freeze” with the burning laser shining on it.

The real bitch of the stuff is that given long enough the
"amorphous" alloy filled pits in the disc wil gradually over time turn to the more natural crystaline state thus erasing the data.

There is no “dye” it’s all done with this special (and complex)
metal alloy.

Quality of the disc doesn’t help, storage under ideal conditions only prolongs the inevetible.

the data WILL disappear given enough time.

write once “R” discs deteriorate slowly but their storage life can be extended greatly by storing them somplace cool, dry and dark.

With RW discs…

Don’t depend on them for long term storage, HOWEVER if you periodically copy the data off of them onto a HDD, then write the disc again… and do this say… every six to nine months…

You won’t lose a thing and the discs, even the cheap ones can be rewritten 1000times, some of the better ones as much as 10,000 times.

I use CD-RW’s in the CD-changer in my car, mostly because I run compliations discs
stacked with mp3’s and after playing for a while I decide that some thigns don’t "fit"
so I erase and rewrite the disc… until I’m “happy” then I burn an “R”

It saves money in the long run.

AD

[sallam]

Thanks Kerry56.
Thanks AllanDeGroot.
Ok, I don’t use RWs for important storage then. But what about using old RWs to write fresh data on them… why the freshly written data results picture freezes and distortions while playing back? I don’t get those freezes if the same media brand is newly bought… should I try to do a complete re-format instead of quick format for example? would that, or any other procedure you suggest, fix the media and make it read correctly with no freezes?