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bham
Registered Users Posts: 1,303 Major grins
Thought this was an interesting read.
http://msn.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,124312,00.asp?GT1=7645
Do Burned CDs Have a Short Life Span?
Optical discs may not be your best bet for storing digital media long term, expert says.
John Blau, IDG News Service
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Opinions vary on how to preserve data on digital storage media, such as optical CDs and DVDs. Kurt Gerecke, a physicist and storage expert at IBM Deutschland, has his own view: If you want to avoid having to burn new CDs every few years, use magnetic tapes to store all your pictures, videos and songs for a lifetime.
Advertisementdocument.write('');
"Unlike pressed original CDs, burned CDs have a relatively short life span of between two to five years, depending on the quality of the CD," Gerecke says. "There are a few things you can do to extend the life of a burned CD, like keeping the disc in a cool, dark space, but not a whole lot more."
The problem is material degradation. Optical discs commonly used for burning, such as CD-R and CD-RW, have a recording surface consisting of a layer of dye that can be modified by heat to store data. The degradation process can result in the data "shifting" on the surface and thus becoming unreadable to the laser beam.
"Many of the cheap burnable CDs available at discount stores have a life span of around two years," Gerecke says. "Some of the better-quality discs offer a longer life span, of a maximum of five years."
Distinguishing high-quality burnable CDs from low-quality discs is difficult, he says, because few vendors use life span as a selling point.
Similar Limitations
Hard-drive disks also have their limitations, according to Gerecke. The problem with hard drives, he says, is not so much the disk itself as it is the disk bearing, which has a positioning function similar to a ball bearing. "If the hard drive uses an inexpensive disk bearing, that bearing will wear out faster than a more expensive one," he says. His recommendation: a hard-drive disk with 7200 revolutions per minute.
To overcome the preservation limitations of burnable CDs, Gerecke suggests using magnetic tapes, which, he claims, can have a life span of 30 years to 100 years, depending on their quality. "Even if magnetic tapes are also subject to degradation, they're still the superior storage media," he says.
But he's quick to point out that no storage medium lasts forever and, consequently, consumers and business alike need to have a migration plan to new storage technologies.
"Companies, in particular, need to be constantly looking at new storage technologies and have an archiving strategy that allows them to automatically migrate to new technologies," he says. "Otherwise, they're going to wind up in a dead-end. And for those sitting on terabytes of crucial data, that could be a colossal problem."
Before I read that I had started to upload all my originals to my site. But this has got me wondering if all my cds will expire in a year? I have always heard that CD would last a decent amount of time and longer than DVD's. Also that you should burn at 8speed or slower. What do you others do and has anybody had any problems yet. I realize most of us only went completely digital within the last 2-5 years and haven't had the time to start and experience these failures and learn the hard way. That article got me thinking.
http://msn.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,124312,00.asp?GT1=7645
Do Burned CDs Have a Short Life Span?
Optical discs may not be your best bet for storing digital media long term, expert says.
John Blau, IDG News Service
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Opinions vary on how to preserve data on digital storage media, such as optical CDs and DVDs. Kurt Gerecke, a physicist and storage expert at IBM Deutschland, has his own view: If you want to avoid having to burn new CDs every few years, use magnetic tapes to store all your pictures, videos and songs for a lifetime.
Advertisementdocument.write(''); "Unlike pressed original CDs, burned CDs have a relatively short life span of between two to five years, depending on the quality of the CD," Gerecke says. "There are a few things you can do to extend the life of a burned CD, like keeping the disc in a cool, dark space, but not a whole lot more."
The problem is material degradation. Optical discs commonly used for burning, such as CD-R and CD-RW, have a recording surface consisting of a layer of dye that can be modified by heat to store data. The degradation process can result in the data "shifting" on the surface and thus becoming unreadable to the laser beam.
"Many of the cheap burnable CDs available at discount stores have a life span of around two years," Gerecke says. "Some of the better-quality discs offer a longer life span, of a maximum of five years."
Distinguishing high-quality burnable CDs from low-quality discs is difficult, he says, because few vendors use life span as a selling point.
Similar Limitations
Hard-drive disks also have their limitations, according to Gerecke. The problem with hard drives, he says, is not so much the disk itself as it is the disk bearing, which has a positioning function similar to a ball bearing. "If the hard drive uses an inexpensive disk bearing, that bearing will wear out faster than a more expensive one," he says. His recommendation: a hard-drive disk with 7200 revolutions per minute.
To overcome the preservation limitations of burnable CDs, Gerecke suggests using magnetic tapes, which, he claims, can have a life span of 30 years to 100 years, depending on their quality. "Even if magnetic tapes are also subject to degradation, they're still the superior storage media," he says.
But he's quick to point out that no storage medium lasts forever and, consequently, consumers and business alike need to have a migration plan to new storage technologies.
"Companies, in particular, need to be constantly looking at new storage technologies and have an archiving strategy that allows them to automatically migrate to new technologies," he says. "Otherwise, they're going to wind up in a dead-end. And for those sitting on terabytes of crucial data, that could be a colossal problem."
Before I read that I had started to upload all my originals to my site. But this has got me wondering if all my cds will expire in a year? I have always heard that CD would last a decent amount of time and longer than DVD's. Also that you should burn at 8speed or slower. What do you others do and has anybody had any problems yet. I realize most of us only went completely digital within the last 2-5 years and haven't had the time to start and experience these failures and learn the hard way. That article got me thinking.
"A photo is like a hamburger. You can get one from McDonalds for $1, one from Chili's for $5, or one from Ruth's Chris for $15. You usually get what you pay for, but don't expect a Ruth's Chris burger at a McDonalds price, if you want that, go cook it yourself." - me
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FWIW, my pics are on CD ROMs, two copies from separate manufacturers. I plan to copy all of them to DVD within the next year. When the high density DVD war is settled, I will then move to whatever format wins. That will probably take a couple of years, maybe three for the price to come down on burners. After that, well, I'm sure there will be something else. I don't expect anything to last forever.
I think that within the foreseeable future PCs as we know them will no longer exist. Web services and high speed wireless net access will be the norm for all but the most unusual computer applications. Storage will be provided centrally much like Google stores email or Smugmug stores pics. Migration will then be the headache of the service providers, not the end users. Same goes for application upgrades. Of course, we will have to pay for this, but it may turn out to be a good deal for most of us compared to what we are currently spending on hardware and software, not to mention Advil when things go south.
Also another thread, a little related to this one: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=25231
www.ivarborst.nl & smugmug