Hearsay question of the week: How long do CDs last?

[bull]

My brother said he heard that photo CDs don't last very long. Anyone else hear this? By "very long" I think he means 10-20 years. Old black and white photos will last 100 years or more if stored halfway decent but from what I've heard we won't be able to do the same with 100-year-old CDs that store photos. Any truth to this?

[Bandit72]

if you keep them from getting all scratched up i dont' see why not...i have a cd that is going on 10 years old now and it still plays fine except the last 2 songs where there is a nice big scratch in it oh well

[Charger_Fan]

They'll be so antiquated in 10 to 20 years, there won't be anything around to read them anyway.

[Todd Wilson]

Various colors of the surface of a cdr  has a life span. Theres blue and green, gold and silver.   The blue and green ones dont last as long as the gold or silver.  If you are backing up digital camera photos you will want to plan to redo these back ups and a certain time. As someone else stated in 20 years the cd technology will be obsolete and this is true. You should plan to copy your cd's to the new media that will happen in the coming years to insure that your files are backed up and will continue to live on.   Its something to think about in this day and age as we all have seen the box of old black and white photos from our past family. We need to think to the future and keep photos now safe as we dont have negatives and prints laying around in a drawer somewhere anymore.  One computer crash and it all could be gone.



Todd

[TruckDriver]

I don't think that this applies to music CDs either. I got a few that are 20 years old now, and they play like new. It's all how well you take care of them.

[Todd Wilson]

I don't think that this applies to music CDs either. I got a few that are 20 years old now, and they play like new. It's all how well you take care of them.

Your music cd's are silver and should last a very long time. You will find it tough to locate CDR's with silver surface. In fact I dont think I have ever seen any?!?!


Todd

[Shakey]

Various colors of the surface of a cdr  has a life span. Theres blue and green, gold and silver.   The blue and green ones dont last as long as the gold or silver.  If you are backing up digital camera photos you will want to plan to redo these back ups and a certain time. As someone else stated in 20 years the cd technology will be obsolete and this is true. You should plan to copy your cd's to the new media that will happen in the coming years to insure that your files are backed up and will continue to live on.   Its something to think about in this day and age as we all have seen the box of old black and white photos from our past family. We need to think to the future and keep photos now safe as we dont have negatives and prints laying around in a drawer somewhere anymore.  One computer crash and it all could be gone.



Todd

I agree with what Todd has said.  My Wife and I have backed up all of our photos on CD's and have made two copies of each.  We have one set put aside at her folks place in case something should happen to the ones we have at home.  We have also put all of the photos on a memory stick but for now, only have one copy of those.  We plan on updating them as time and technologhy moves forward.

We look through these photos, some as recent as two years ago when our first child was born and shudder at the thought of losing them forever. 

[TruckDriver]

I don't think that this applies to music CDs either. I got a few that are 20 years old now, and they play like new. It's all how well you take care of them.

Your music cd's are silver and should last a very long time. You will find it tough to locate CDR's with silver surface. In fact I dont think I have ever seen any?!?!


Todd

All the CD-Rs I ever used were silver. I been buying Maxell Music CD-Rs for the past 2 years. I also have used Memorex CD-Rs in the past. They were all silver too. I have to admit, I don't think I ever seen the colored ones your talking about I never had any problems or seen any quality differences by using the music CDs to save pictures.

[Todd Wilson]

A few clips taken for information.........

Unlike an ordinary CD, the CD-R has an organic dye recording layer between the polycarbonate substrate and the light reflective layer. In addition, the polycarbonate substrate is etched with a spiral pre-groove. This pre-groove is used for guiding the laser beam, time measurement and various controls during recording.
The laser beam, modulated by the recording signal, is focused on the groove. The beam heats and melts the recording layer of organic dye on the polycarbonate substrate, forming a series of pits. This pits are physically extremely stable, and are ideal for long-term data storage with the highest degree of reliability.

The color of the CD-R disc is related to the color of the specific dye that was used in the recording layer. This base dye color is modified when the reflective coating (gold or silver) is added. Some of the dye-reflective coating combinations appear green, some appear blue and others appear yellow/gold. Visual differences between various media types are irrelevant from the standpoint of their actual operation. At 780 nm, where CD-R recorders and CD-ROM readers function, the media are, for all intents and purposes, indistinguishable from an optical recording standpoint. They all "look" the same to the devices.

The gold-colored CD-R uses the PhthaloCyanine pigment and a gold reflection layer. As the pigment is transparent, the golden reflection layer shines through the bottom side giving the `golden' look. Compared to the other colored media, the reflection contrast of the golden medium is the highest and the durability of such CD-R's is said to be over 100 years. As the golden medium's reflective property is the highest, if your friends or customers have problems reading data from any other burnt media, try using the gold medium CD-R.

The green CD-R, the cheapest of the three, uses the Cyanine pigment. By itself, the pigment is blue in color, but together with the gold reflective layer, the bottom appears green. However, cyanine's ability to maintain reflectivity is poor giving it a life span of about 10 years. It also delivers the weakest reflection contrasts and thus can cause read errors when run on old CD-ROM drives.
Lately cyanine formula has been altered which results in a much higher life span (20 to 50 years). The gold reflection layer has also been replaced by a silver reflection layer this make the color of the bottom appear blue.

The blue media is made of Azo pigments. Like cyanine, it is blue in color but unlike the green CD-R it uses a silver reflection layer which gives the blue color. Manufacturers claim blue CD-R's are as durable as golden ones.

[bull]

Well there's some news I can use. So what's the best way to store these longer-lasting CDs?

[69bronzeT5]

Well, I had this Ozzy Osbourne Randy Rhoads live cd and it lasted for 2yrs til my sister's dog got it But, I just found this ACDC Back In Black Cd and it still is in good condition and it plays without skips. Apperentley, my dad bought it back in 1981 when it came out.

[bull]

So I shouldn't store CDs in your sister's dog's mouth?

[69_500]

Did I just read that right? Your saying your dad bought an AC/DC CD in 1981?

[bull]

Did I just read that right? Your saying your dad bought an AC/DC CD in 1981?

I didn't catch that part. lol Good one. Bronze, are you fibbing again?

[69_500]

He must be the inventor of the CD then. No wonder it still works perfectly.

[69bronzeT5]

1980 Compact Disc standard proposed by Philips & Sony.

1981 Matsushita accepts Compact Disc Standard
Digital Audio Disc Committee also accepts Compact Disc Standard.
Sharp achieves production of semiconductor laser.
Philips & Sony collaboration ends.

1982 Sony & Philips both have product ready to go.
Compact Disc Technology is introduced to Europe and Japan in the fall.

1983 Compact Disc Technology is introduced in the United States in the spring
The Compact Disc Group formed to help market.
CD-ROM Protoypes shown to public
30,000 Players sold in the U.S.
800,000 CD's sold in the U.S.

1984 Second Generation & Car CD players introducted.
First Mass Replication Plant in the United States built.
Portable (i.e., Sony DiscMan) CD Players sold.


~You're right on 69 500....you should find a jepordy audition~

Crap...sorry, my bad. I wasnt lying, I just make a mistake. 1981 just came into my head when I was posting. Its deffintley from the early 90s cuz the new Back In Black remake cds are black where the one I have is pink and silver.