X-Message-Number: 5642 Subject: Why CD-R isn't an archival medium Date: Sat, 20 Jan 1996 10:30:57 -0500 From: "Perry E. Metzger" <> > From: "Leonard N. Zubkoff" <> > Subject: Re: CD-R as storage > > I'm curious why recordable CDs are not considered a reasonable storage medium > for archiving data? From what I've read about longevity, they are vastly > superior to any form of digital tape. That isn't saying much. Many forms of tape backup won't last more than a few years. CD-R is based on a fairly unstable chemical substrate. Let it get in direct sunlight or look at it the wrong way and poof -- your data is gone. Its fine for one offs, its lousy if your data MUST survive. No one has done ten or thirty year longevity studies on it, either -- at least not the only ones that would count, as in leaving around disks under varying conditions for years. Lastly, I am quite unsure as to whether or not you are going to find an ISO-9660 CD Reader lying around in 100 or 300 years. Perry Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=5642