Test for archival quality discs being developed

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#1

I just posted the article Test for archival quality discs being developed.

This
is a great idea. We have all been wondering how safe our data is when stored on
optical media. Especially afeter reading about CD and DVD rot. Of course,
storage of your media is a…

Read the full article here:  [http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/9598-Test-for-archival-quality-discs-being-developed.html](http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/9598-Test-for-archival-quality-discs-being-developed.html)

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#2

I wonder what data warrants the use of such media, for 10/20 years cast in GOLD, such data would never use a CD/DVD, in my knowledge. IT should be engraved on stones.:B

#3

you know what, it would be great to have some sort of label that actually meant something on media we are buying, that was some sort of indication of a higher quality archival product. But I fear it’s more of the same old thing in the cut-throat dog-eat-dog blank media business, where formulations,speeds, manufacturing techniques and speeds change faster than underpants. In other news, I can guarantee a pristine environment for all your media. Bring it all to me. Trust me. Oh wait, that was just me fantasizing about working for Microsoft and Google.

#4

The paper is available right here: http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/gipwg/StabilityStudy.pdf The conclusions for CD-R media are that they didn’t take enough samples to to give a statistical estimation of life expectancy. They say that the dye type is one of the most important factors, and pthalocyanine performed better than the others, particularly with a gold/silver reflective layer. Azo dye had less stability under light and temperature/humidity testing. Cyanine did well when exposed to light but not so well under temperature/humidity stress testing. For DVD-R media they found it hard to make conclusions due to modifications in the chemical composition of the dyes, though they do say that the variation in quality among brands is ‘considerable.’ Jitter and dye type are very important in determining media longevity. It has been demonstrated that some CDR and DVDR media can in fact be very stable, possibly for several decades.

#5

This used to be of concern to me, but when I bought my last dvd burner I found myself moving anything important to DVD anyway, so in reailty if one of my disks last 10 years I’m doing great. The oldest CD of anything on it I had was burned in 1998 and I dumped it about two weeks ago, after compiling the stuff with other disks onto a new DVD.

#6

Various insundry US govt. departments have been archiving data on CDR for years. Most of them have no QC plan at all, and they just assume the discs will be readable in the future. Kind of frightening really, thousands of CDRs laying in files and nobody is checking them. Most likely, nobody knows how many departments are using them or for what. Our tax dollars at work…

#7

I trust my home brewed cdrs more than I do DVDs. I have already experienced unreadable dvds even though when I made them they passed legibility and had been recorded successfully with a Pioneer A06 and “top quality” 4X Princos.

#8

they didn’t test dvd-ram either, arguably the best for long-term storage.