[OT] Worrying Backup Problems

[Gordon Darling]

Storage expert warns of short life span for burned CDs

http://computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/storage/story/0,10801,107607,00.html

"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 said in an interview this week. "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."

Interesting but worrying read if you've got lots of priceless data stored
on CDRs.

Regards
Gordon

 

[RGreen]

As always this is all MS fault. Shitheads. That's why we need Linux.

 

[mike]

RGreen wrote

As always this is all MS fault. Shitheads. That's why we need Linux.

Don't linux users archive to CD then?

 

[news.xmission.com]

As always this is all MS fault. Shitheads. That's why we need Linux.

What kind of deranged mind, sickened with a pathological hatred of
Microsoft, could possibly connect MS with the useful storage life of a CDR?
Does Linux have some special technique, unknown to the rest of the IT
community, that gives CD's burned under that OS better survival times than
the same media, burned on the same brand of drive under Windows?

Don't like Microsoft? Fine. Prefer Linux? Fine. As for irrationally blaming
MS for everything that you perceive to be wrong in the computer world, a
suggestion: get a very small spoon and use it to clean out your ears if you
ever pull your head out of your ass.

 

[hheightman]

As always this is all MS fault. Shitheads. That's why we need Linux.

Sorry, the last post was not supposed to be anonymous.

In response to RGreen:

What kind of deranged mind, sickened with a pathological hatred of
Microsoft, could possibly connect MS with the useful storage life of a CDR?

Does Linux have some special technique, unknown to the rest of the IT
community, that gives CD's burned under that OS better survival times than
the same media, burned on the same brand of drive under Windows?

Don't like Microsoft? Fine. Prefer Linux? Fine. As for irrationally blaming
MS for everything that you perceive to be wrong in the computer world, a
suggestion: get a very small spoon and use it to clean out your ears if you
ever pull your head out of your ass.

 

[Onedayflyer]

Gordon Darling wrote on 10-1-2006:

Interesting but worrying read if you've got lots of priceless data
stored
on CDRs.

IBM is trying to sell their backup systems ;-)

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Posted by news://news.nb.nu

 

[The Wizard]

RGreen wrote

Don't linux users archive to CD then?

No need too, The system crashes so much they have to re-install everything
anyway from another hard drive ;-)

Personally, It sounds to me like a new version of CD is about to arrive on
the scene and they want something to make people buy it for a
reason.......Mud sticks!

 

[bambam]

Gordon Darling wrote on 10-1-2006:

IBM is trying to sell their backup systems ;-)

Yes, I agree, what a load of scaremongering crap

<quote>

"Many of the cheap burnable CDs available at discount stores have a life
span of around two years," Gerecke said. "Some of the better-quality discs
offer a longer life span, of a maximum of five years."

<quote>

Much better info here:

http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq07.html#S7-5

http://www.mrichter.com/cdr/primer/durable.htm

Want to increase your odds of data preservation?

http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/carefordisc/index.html

 

[Steve H]

Storage expert warns of short life span for burned CDs

http://computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/storage/story/0,10801,107607,00.html

"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 said in an interview this week. "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."

Interesting but worrying read if you've got lots of priceless data stored
on CDRs.

I have a feeling this is somewhat old news?
I seem to recall a programme on the radio a few years ago about a
museum whose archive of data was stored on CDs, and they were finding
that the 'substrate' was degrading.

I tend to use hard drives for storing valuable data - at thirty quid
or so for 80+ Gigs it's a pretty safe and secure means of bulk
storage.

I'd imagine Ram disks will continue to get larger and cheaper in the
short term...

Regards,

 

[Steve H]

As always this is all MS fault. Shitheads. That's why we need Linux.

I think this one lies at Phillips' door..

 

[Al Klein]

"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 said in an interview this week. "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."

I'll have to throw out all my perfectly-working older (by a
lot)-than-five-year CDs, I guess. Or just ignore his (obviously
incorrect) opinion.

 

[Kansas Boiled Beef]

"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 said in an interview this week. "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."

If you buy good cdrs (e.g. certain Mitsui's or Taiyo Yuden) and store
them properly your cdr's will have a life span of at least 50 years,
and probably more. The aluminium in pressed cd's can also oxidize if
exposed to air. I have 8 years old cdr's with all data still intact,
stored at room temparature in the dark.

KBB

 

[Terry Russell]

Storage expert warns of short life span for burned CDs

http://computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/storage/story/0,10801,107607,00.html

"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 said in an interview this week. "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."

Interesting but worrying read if you've got lots of priceless data stored
on CDRs.

So, make a new copy every few years , keep at least two copies,
store a checksum for verification or verify against each other.
Then if the house burns down you still have another copy in the safe buried
under
a half tonne slab in the shed, which you should anyway if it is valuable.
( whoops, now I have to move it

It depends on the disk, both cd-r and silver disks suffer serious
degradation
if left in the sun and rain for a few months. So does paper.

I have some test CD-Rs (KAO TDK) left out in the sun for various periods
after burning in 1996, just checked as I do sometimes when I remember, still
scan okay.
Which sort of undermines the 5 years for good quality thing.
They were $20 each then, so at 50cents each a couple of copies isn't a
problem.

I have never had a cd-r mysteriously develop problems not obviously
scratches
or other physical handling dmaage and I have used some of the cheapest
you could find, if they write at all and verify they are probably good for a
long while.

 

[SeaMaiden]

Are DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW also having a short life span like the CD-R/RWs?

 

[Terry Russell]

Are DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW also having a short life span like the CD-R/RWs?

ask me in a couple of years
They are much the same technology as cdr, so should be similar, and cdr
does not have a 'short life span' if by short you mean 2 or 3 years.

All I can say is a couple of brands of cheap 50cent DVD recordables
haven't failed in a couple of years once past verify stage, though they
do seem to gave a slightly greater chance of failing on write, which is
probably more to do with the cranked up writing speed rather than
inherent disk flaws.
( crosses fingers and toes, knock on wood, walk three times round
'round a bemused cat)

_some_ printed receipts are barely readable after a year,
_some_ modern printing paper won't last 10 years
your credit card won't read in many overseas machines ( so allow for that )
_some_ cdr/dvdr will fail long before expected

most will have many years , make copies and check annually if
information is worth it , then every 5 years move all that data
to a new media with 10 times the capacity and store the old media in the
shed.
then worry about the new media

 

[SeaMaiden]

Which is more secure (less likely to degrade)?

1. Straight burning
2. Packet writing (drag & drop) using MRW Mt Rainer format?