Do recordable CDs degrade?

[BLLDOGG]

the ones for your computer? I want to put all my photos on my computer onto discs and i was wondering if they would degrade over time.

[teal99camaro]

nope...

[Flowbee V6]

yep over the course of 25 years or so they might start to become unplayable but if you store them correctly it could be a lot longer than that

[Resident_Geek]

They'll last 10 years, if stored in a humidity-free and electromagnetic radiation-free place. G'luck.

[teal99camaro]

you guys think the thing it going to magically disappear in a puff of smoke in 10 years. You're wrong. If you keep it in a CD case it'll last decades.. I wouldnt worry about it.

[98Camaro3.8]

Originally posted by teal99camaro:
you guys think the thing it going to magically disappear in a puff of smoke in 10 years. You're wrong.

Be careful what you go around saying. Storage conditions and frequency of use have a large effect on the lifetime of CDs/DVDs. In good conditions, though, they should last long enough.

Yes, it can "magically disappear" because of the dye used on the CD.

http://www.rense.com/general52/themythofthe100year.htm
http://www.xdr2.com/CDR-Info/Dye.htm
http://www.cdmediaworld.com/hardware..._quality.shtml
http://www.osta.org/technology/dvdqa/dvdqa11.htm

The quality of the CD makes a big difference.
Also note that -RW discs have a shorter life than plain -Rs.

[camaro_speedemon]

Originally posted by teal99camaro:
you guys think the thing it going to magically disappear in a puff of smoke in 10 years. You're wrong. If you keep it in a CD case it'll last decades.. I wouldnt worry about it.

Not true, LOTS of the early CD-Rs had big issues with the glue discoloring making the disc unreadable.

But now, as long as you stick to the good brands you shouldn't have issues. My next set of DVD-Rs is going to be Ritek. All of the videographers I know claim this to be the absolute best brand.

You can do what I do to archive footage, burn two discs. If one fails, you have a backup.

But I'm not sure how much space putting photos onto disc is going to free up. I have over 2k pictures taken at 3MP and it's only taking up 1.24 gigs.

[V6Bob]

It depends on exactly which disk you're using (manufacturer, model). And it's hard to tell which ones last longer. Good ones kept mostly in darkness, maybe 50 years.

www.itl.nist.gov/div895/gipwog/StabilityStudy.pdf

[slow6]

totally with 98camaro on this
depends on how you treat them

[Resident_Geek]

Originally posted by camaro_speedemon:

You can do what I do to archive footage, burn two discs. If one fails, you have a backup.[/QB]

There is some uncertainty about CD rot, but that wouldn't really help. If ultraviolet radiation pokes wee holes in the data layer of the discs, they'll both be less functional than most people would like.

[phil97.3.8]

as of right now there haven't been any really long term studies of dvd long term reliability, as they haven't been out for even 10 years, and they use different dye than CD's

[camaro_speedemon]

Originally posted by Resident_Geek:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by camaro_speedemon:

You can do what I do to archive footage, burn two discs. If one fails, you have a backup.

There is some uncertainty about CD rot, but that wouldn't really help. If ultraviolet radiation pokes wee holes in the data layer of the discs, they'll both be less functional than most people would like. [/QB]</font>[/QUOTE]Yes, but the chances of both suffering are consideraby less.