IBM Storage Expert Warns of CD Expiration Date

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/01/10/73755_HNcdlifespan_1.html' target='_blank'>http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/01/10/73755_HNcdlifespan_1.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"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 (Profile, Products, Articles) 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. "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><br /><br />There are varying opinions on this, but I thought most experts agreed that CDs and DVDs would last in the 20+ year range before degradation, depending on the type and quality of the dye used. This guy, who's credentials sound impressive, is saying two years for cheap CDs and only five years for quality CDs? That's disastrous! I've always been a big believer in lots of big hard drives with the data mirrored all over the place, and this only confirms that opinion. It's sad to think of all the data and memories burned to CD/DVD that might not be accessible even five years from now. Anyone had trouble with optical discs they burned more than a couple of years ago?

[ctmagnus]

I've been accessing files (not modifying them) on the very first CD-RW disc I ever bought, over six years ago, every month or so with no apparent problems yet. 0X (crossed fingers)

[Chris Gohlke]

I've got CD's of MP3's approach their 6th birthday that still work fine. Considering they have been in a car for the last 3 or 4 and seen temperature ranges from freezing to whatever a hot Florida summer day can dish out, I think they have passed the torture test.

[Damion Chaplin]

I do have one very old CDRW that is no longer accessible. I haven't used CDRWs since then. Never had a problem with CDRs.

I do find it surprising that he recommends magnetic media instead. Tapes can be erased by sneezing at them wrong. Zip discs and floppies are magnetic aren't they? There was a reason we gave them up in favor of more impermeable media.

Besides, with the inexpensiveness of CDs, just burn an extra copy. And every 5-10 years, review your backups and reburn them if you're feeling extra paranoid.

I agree with Jason, the best way to back up your data is to mirror it all over the place on your network. Sure, making sure it's all synched will be a challenge, but the chances of you losing some archived file are very small...

[whydidnt]

I sure hope he's incorrect. I'm in the process of converting all of my old VHS videos of my daughter to DVD. My logic for doing this was to put them on a more permanent storage medium, since I heard that magnetic video tapes degrade over time. 8O

Wow, what a royal hassle it would be to have to create multiple storage farms just store all of our old media files. I'd sure like a few more opinions on this one.

[Jason Dunn]

I sure hope he's incorrect. I'm in the process of converting all of my old VHS videos of my daughter to DVD.

What I do in this scenario is archive using "file archive" WMV, which means really hit bit rate and minimal compression.

Wow, what a royal hassle it would be to have to create multiple storage farms just store all of our old media files. I'd sure like a few more opinions on this one.

How about ripping the DVDs to ISO files, which means you can re-burn down the road if the DVDs go bad? The ISO files will take up a fair chunk of space mind you...

[mcsouth]

There has been a lot written in the past few years about "CD rot", or claims that chemical reactions between the supposedly inert layers of the CD can result in a gradual loss of bits, to the point where the error correction schemes can no longer cope, and the disc is considered unreadable. Not sure how much of it is hype and how much is documented research, but some of what I read seemed to imply that there is a reason why some CD's are only pennies while others are considerably more expensive.

The other consideration was supposedly related to CD burners as well; something about as they wear, the lasers don't always track as true as they should, and especially if they are used to burn a CD at high speeds, that the "pits" are not always where they should be, or faint enough that they can be hard to read. Again, not sure how much is speculation vs. documented fact.

The bottom line for me is that anything coming off the hard drive for permanent archiving goes to CD's burned at a low speed, but even then, I try to remember to copy back to the hard drive and reburn to CD every few years. At work, we have cut way back on archiving to CD, and try to reburn them every few years. However, most of our really valuable content stays on the servers, and gets covered by our IT backup policies.

[jeffd]

jason..vs mpeg2 wich all players playback? ;)

If I had any VHS material worth keeping, I would have archived it to cd and dvd long ago. VHS was dead like 8 years ago. Aside from vhs playback being self destructive, it's so much easier to play, manipulate, and copy the media once it's on a digital disc.

As for magnetic tape being better... as much as it "might" last longer.. it is susceptable to both temperature AND magnetism, and reading it is self destructive.

My oldest cdr's still work fine, I've had a couple of my thousand'ish cdrs bubble up, but it was pretty strictly limited to a set of really really cheap cdrs that compUSA sells as their own. DVD wise..I had one set of disc that has had about 3-4 disc where the BACK plate adhesive lost its cohesion. Unlike cdr, dvd's protect both sides now, and so while it was a pain cause I needed to re-copy such exposed media, the back falling off didn't harm the media itself.

[Jason Dunn]

jason..vs mpeg2 wich all players playback? ;)

Equivalent MPEG2 files would be much lager, which is why I chose WMV - it was a blend of quality and smaller size. I'm quite confident that Microsoft will be around for a long time, and so will Windows Media Player.

[yada88]

I have to doubt what's been said as I have CDs I bought from Outpost.com 6-7 years ago that were pretty darn cheap made by a company called k-hypermedia that work just fine.

[jeffd]

Jason, that would be fine if your main method of playback was PC. I assumed however that "home movies" would best be playd back on a TV, and the easiest method for that currently is through dvd players. Especialy since VHS looks pretty nasty on monitors, with its effective resolution is so low, you need the tv's magic (or curse, depending on who you ask) of smoothing out the pixles to reduce grain.

[Jason Dunn]

Jason, that would be fine if your main method of playback was PC. I assumed however that "home movies" would best be playd back on a TV, and the easiest method for that currently is through dvd players.

Sure, I hear what you're saying, but when I think about archiving memories, I try to think long term: so for me, the future is not DVD players, it's networked media players connected to big TV sets. So right now that's WMV and an Xbox 360 connected to my TV. Assuming I can ever get it to work that is...so maybe I should have gone with DVDs after all. ;-)

[jeffd]

hey, theres allways xbox 720 ;)

[Magellan]

Hmmm, he works for IBM, and IBM still sells Magnetic tapes. Just thinking outloud................................

[hyedipin]

and these http://www.cdr-info.de/rohlinge/cover/763.jpg


and i don't think this guy would make such a claim to sell a few cheap tapes..
he might as well have said keep them on HDD..