This article,
http://computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/storage/story/0,10801,107607,00.html
says a lifespan of 2-5 years for cds you burn yourself. Another article
I read another article that claimed 18 months or less even under good
storage conditions. The higher quality, i.e. higher price, blanks lasted
longer than the cheaper discs. Of course there are people who say that
they can read discs they burned many years ago and that is likely to be
the case. I'm sure this operates on the standard bell curve of
probability like pretty much everything else. Maybe Consumer Reports
will test them someday ;) If it's vital the data be kept then making
multiple copies, storing them in the dark in a temperature controlled
room, and recopying them yearly would seem to be the safest bet.
glenn
Warren Myers wrote:
On 11/26/06, John Mitchell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On 11/25/06, Steve Litt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
<snip> I'm considering backing up to bzip2 instead of gzip (.tgz) to
pack more on a single DVD. <end snip>
Steve, you are missing something here. In 20 years you will not have a
device that is capable of "reading" a DVD. (That assumes that the
plastic disk is still in working order also.)
I have CDs from 20 years ago that read fine in my CD player of today - why
would you expect DVDs to be any different in 20 years? Shoot, you can still
walk into yon electronics department of almost any store and buy VCRs - and
they've been around for closer to 30.
True enough, the media might go bad (burned discs seem to never last as
long
as stamped), but the technology shouldn't be going anywhere.
Not counting one in the closet, do you still have a 5 1/4" flopply
drive on your PC? That is 20 year old technology. The IBM 3.5" flopply
came into being only 19 years ago:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_System/2
I don't even want to think about all those 20 years old back-up
tapes! :)
john mitchell
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Glenn Hennessee
Department of Chemistry
NC State University
Raleigh, NC 27606
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