CD or DVD

[Joan and Alan]

Which device is better to store pictures?

Thanks, Joan

 

[Alan Smith]

Which device is better to store pictures?

Thanks, Joan

Either, but a CD will probably have a longer life.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Which device is better to store pictures?

Same basic technology, larger format.
Your answer depends on your purpose/needs.

How many pictures? What kind of interface will you be putting on the media
to view the pictures?

Most modern stand-alone DVD players can play VCDs or DVDs - meaning you
would only be concerned about the size of the things to be put on the
media - being that DVD has a significantly larger amount of available space
than CD.

If you just plan on storing the pictures - that would be your own
organizational decision. If you want thousands or more - likely easier on a
DVD that can hold more high quality photos. If you want to be able to edit
the contents, then you would go with re-writable media (CD or DVD) and for
safety, burn a copy of the RW on regular CD for external (in another
physical location) storage (backup.)

In other words - tell us what you are trying to accomplish. You basically
asked us "Car or Truck, which is better?" and didn't tell us that you were
'going on a road trip with five other people' or 'hauling a ton of dirt back
and forth daily'. More details needed.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Joan and Alan wrote in message

Which device is better to store pictures?

Either, but a CD will probably have a longer life.

Actually - being they are based off the same basic technology - their
lifespan should be similar; however untested this lifespan may be.
If treated well, you can expect the media and the data stored within (on
either media type) to be good and available with the proper reader for
several years/decades without problem.

While tests do show "stamped" CDs and DVDs to last longer than burned CDs
and DVDs - enough time hasn't passed to give a true/accurate lifespan for
quality CD/DVD media yet.

 

[Alan Smith]

Joan and Alan wrote in message



Actually - being they are based off the same basic technology - their
lifespan should be similar; however untested this lifespan may be.
If treated well, you can expect the media and the data stored within (on
either media type) to be good and available with the proper reader for
several years/decades without problem.

While tests do show "stamped" CDs and DVDs to last longer than burned CDs
and DVDs - enough time hasn't passed to give a true/accurate lifespan for
quality CD/DVD media yet.

The lifespan of user written DVD's is less than that of CD's.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Joan and Alan wrote in message

Which device is better to store pictures?

Either, but a CD will probably have a longer life.

Actually - being they are based off the same basic technology - their
lifespan should be similar; however untested this lifespan may be.
If treated well, you can expect the media and the data stored within
(on either media type) to be good and available with the proper
reader for several years/decades without problem.

While tests do show "stamped" CDs and DVDs to last longer than
burned CDs and DVDs - enough time hasn't passed to give a
true/accurate lifespan for quality CD/DVD media yet.

The lifespan of user written DVD's is less than that of CD's.

Do you have articles/documetation supporting this? I cannot find any.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Which device is better to store pictures?

Either, but a CD will probably have a longer life.

Actually - being they are based off the same basic technology - their
lifespan should be similar; however untested this lifespan may be.
If treated well, you can expect the media and the data stored within
(on either media type) to be good and available with the proper
reader for several years/decades without problem.
While tests do show "stamped" CDs and DVDs to last longer than
burned CDs and DVDs - enough time hasn't passed to give a
true/accurate lifespan for quality CD/DVD media yet.

The lifespan of user written DVD's is less than that of CD's.

Again - no evidence found to support your claim - however - evidence stating
the life of wither being 25-30 years is abundant..

A prior newsgroup/forum discussion that is right along the original poster's
line of questioning.. Quite an active post actually.
http://talkphoto.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-14806.html

Further factual information on CD/DVD lifespans:

National Institute of Standards and Technology tips for longer CD and DVD
life and tests..
http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/gipwg/StabilityStudy.pdf

Identifying top quality CD and DVD media for archiving
http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/communication_media/report-37556.html Government Information Preservation Working Group http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/gipwog/index.html Debunking the Myth of CD/DVD Rot http://www.enterprisenetworksandservers.com/monthly/art.php/867 Ensuring that digital data last http://www.sil.org/~simonsg/Saliba/Archival form.htm DVD Media Demystified http://www.eventdv.net/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?CategoryID=103&ArticleID=10038--Shenan Stanley MS-MVP--How To Ask Questions The Smart Wayhttp://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Wow - sorry about that - the formatting got totally crazy on the post for
some reason..
I've cleaned up the links below.

 

[Needy]

The lifespan of user written DVD's is less than that of CD's.

Considering how easily damaged CDs and DVDs are, it would make
sense that a DVD would have a shorter lifespan that a CD. Just in
case you aren't familiar with the "burning" process that occurs when
you make a CD or DVD, it's done like this: You have a highly
reflective alloy disk that has a layer of dye covering it. When you
burn a disk, the laser in the burner burns holes in the dye. By
burning holes in the dye, it allows for the reflective alloy disk to
reflect a laser beam during the reading of the disk. By burning holes
or leaving the area intact and not burning a hole, you can replicate
ones and zeros. For example, leaving the area intact so that the
laser can't be reflected back might be a zero, and the burnt hole that
reflects the laser back to itself might be a one.
If you read the proper handling procedures for these disks, they
tell you to never flex a disk, meaning, don't bend one. Heck, just
trying to get one out of the jewel case requires you to slightly bend
it. They say that bending a disk can cause the dye layer to move,
stretch, or distort, and if that happens, the dye can cover over some
of the holes that were burnt in it. If this happens, the disk becomes
corrupted.
If you consider that the DVD has a lot more holes burnt in it in
order to store the 4.38 GB of information that a DVD holds, then that
means that there are more holes that are smaller and packed together
more closely, as opposed to a CD, which only holds 700 MB. That would
make the DVD more susceptible to damage just by removing it from the
jewel box, not to mention all the other factors that can damage a
disk, like heat and light.
If you're wondering about the lifespan of a commercially made DVD
or CD with a movie or music already recorded on it, it's a lot longer
because they don't have a layer of dye. Instead, the reflective alloy
is stamped so that the actual alloy has pits in it. These pits
represent the unburnt areas of dye in a homemade disk, because when
the laser tries to read the pitted areas, the laser is dispersed and
not reflected back, the same as the unburnt dye areas. Since the
alloy is stamped and there's no dye involved, the commercially made
recordings on CDs and DVDs should theoretically last forever.

Needy

 

[Alan Smith]

Wow - sorry about that - the formatting got totally crazy on the post for
some reason..
I've cleaned up the links below.

I've seen it frequently in computer magazine tests. Next time I come across
it I'll let you know. I've never ever seen that home/office written DVD's
last as long as CDR's anywhere.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I've seen it frequently in computer magazine tests. Next time I come
across it I'll let you know. I've never ever seen that home/office
written DVD's last as long as CDR's anywhere.

Go to any of the links I provided.. They don't make distinctions normally -
grouping CDs and DVDs into "Optical Storage".

 

[NoNoBadDog!]

Either, but a CD will probably have a longer life.

I am using CD's that I burned in 1997. If you buy reputable CD-R or DVD-R
discs and store them properly, they can be expected to last upwards of 20
years. For true archival purposes, you should burn more than one copy, each
copy on a different brand/formulation of disc. You might also pick an
arbitrary number of years (such as 8) and make a copy of the disk when that
number of years has been reached. By then, new technologies will exist that
should offer greater archival lifespan.

Bobby