In the FWIW category -
In an effort to render confidential material (jpeg images) on a CD
unreadable, I started placing 2 deep scratches - made with one half of a
scissor - across the diameter of a CD, 90 degrees apart. After "destroying"
several CD's this way, I decided to see what effect this had on the data on
the CD
I was dumbfounded that it had no decernable effect on the readability of the
data.
I now cut the CDs in two!
Kenneth Waller
----- Original Message -----
From: "J. C. O'Connell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: And what about storing the CDs/DVDs?
yes, of course its always best to handle and store the
DVD discs carefully as possible, but my story of experiences with
hundreds of heavily scratched library ones ( which you edited out),
clearly demonstrates that they are not as fragile/
physically corruptible as most people would assume they are.
I was in disbelief myself when nearly all of these discs
were playable/readable. They were way beyond anything I had
ever seen in terms of the quantity and magnitude of scratches.
I wouldn't of posted that if I hadnt experienced it first hand
because it really is unbeliveable how much scratching is tolerated....
I am using about a 2 yr old sony DVD-video 5 disc player and dedicated
DVD-ROM only drive (samsung) in my PC during that time. Your mileage may
vary. Im sure some drives are better than others for scratch immunity...
jco
-----Original Message-----
From: Godfrey DiGiorgi [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 7:58 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: And what about storing the CDs/DVDs?
On Jan 3, 2006, at 3:14 PM, Rob Studdert wrote:
... DVDs in my experience are not realy that physicallly sensitive to
dust ( can be wiped off) or even lots of light scratches. ...
I have seen plenty of cases where DVDs in particular do not play
correctly due to scratching, less so for CD media, and this is for
commercially produced CDs/DVDs, which are a lot more robust than CD-R
and DVD-R media. Caution in handling and storage is always a good
idea for sensitive data, whether you've had good or bad experience
with the media. Multiple backups is always the safest course of action.
One of the advantages of large capacity hard disk storage is that
very large libraries of data can be periodically checked and verified
easily and quickly, without physically having to mount and dismount
large numbers of devices. Handling is the biggest source of damage to
any media, film included. Any open-to-the-air, interchangeable media
device is, by its very nature, more prone to damage than a sealed
hard disk's platters. Notwithstanding the frangibility of portable
hard drive devices (where you've made a tradeoff in reliability/
durability for the advantage of portability) HDDs have significantly
greater MTBF ratings compared to any floppy or other open-platter
storage device.
Godfrey
