A couple of conservation questions:
Our laboratory director came to me last week. He is starting to digitize
his old maps on DVDs.
He ran across some information that said that the lifetime of DVDs is only 5
years. Is that true?
If so, what is the estimated lifespan of the gold plated
There is _no_ assured lifetime for optical media (DVD, CD). There are claims
that archival quality media last for 100 years. There is also experiential
evidence that this is not so. Optical media may fail catastrophically at any
time (although the odds are that a given platter will last for many
HI Susan, Ari, et al,
This may be a little out of date (2004), I seem to remember this
issue being raised before:
Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and
Technology
517
[J. Res. Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol. 109, 517-524 (2004)]
Stability Comparison of Recordable
Susan, Yes, media can fail anytime so it is always a good idea to have two
copies (preferably on two types of media.) Lifespan beyond 10 years is
pointless anyway because you will most likely want to take advantage of
bigger and speedier and cheaper storage devices. Don't sweat it, keep
Dear Susan,
The lifespan of polycarbonate discs, with silver/silver alloy data
layer, and commercial dye (aka CDs, DVDs, etc). is on real
practice, with much luck 17 -20 years. Oxidizing processes of silver
and/or alloy and dye is very fast. It has been theoretical predicted
that with proper and
Another interesting viewpoint.
Barbara Stokes
Curator of Archives and Collections
Museum of South Texas History
121 E. McIntyre
Edinburg, TX 78541
bstokes at mosthistory.org
956/383-6911
-Original Message-
From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Gaby
DVD/CDs are never good choices for preservation. See the following
research
In 2002, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) directed a
study of high density magnetic tapes life expectancy and revealed tapes
can have a life expectancy of 100 years. (
