X-Message-Number: 5662 Date: Wed, 24 Jan 1996 23:45:16 -0500 From: "Keith F. Lynch" <> Subject: Re: Why CD-R isn't an archival medium In #5642, "Perry E. Metzger" <> > That isn't saying much. Many forms of tape backup won't last more > than a few years. Does anyone know how long DSHD 5 inch diskettes last? I have about a thousand of them, up to ten years old. I store them in my clean, dry, but very warm (85F or 30C) apartment. > 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. The web page mentioned in Leonard N. Zubkoff's message #5636, http://www.cd-info.com, contains claims from various manufacturers that CD-R discs stored under normal conditions will last 70, 100+, or 217 years. Even longer, given better CD-R readers. > 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. I can't believe that a technology capable of repairing brain cells would be unable to read a CD-R disc, even in the very unlikely case that all information on how data are stored on them is lost. -- Keith Lynch, http://www.access.digex.net/~kfl/ Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=5662