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0 pointsfsckboy4mo ago0 comments

>As for CDs, I don't see the rush; the ones that were properly made will likely outlast human civilization.

recordable CD-Rs or DVD-Rs do not last close to that long, and those are the ones that hold the only copies of certain bits (original versions of software, etc) that people are most interested in not losing.

manufactured CDs and DVDs hold commericial music and films that are for the most part not rare at all.

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accrual4mo ago

Yes, good distinction. Recordable media will most likely contain data an individual intended to save. But because it's recordable, the dyes and structures on the disc aren't as stable.

Long-lasting, good quality mastered optical media is probably mass produced and has many copies, including a distinct and potentially well-preserved source.

It's probably fair to say that a lot of mixtapes (mix CDs?) from the early 2000s are lost to dye issues...

quantummagic4mo ago

> lost to dye issues...

Not that it helps to recover older data, but things are better with Blu-ray today; at least if you buy decent quality discs. Advertised lifespans are multiple decades, up to 100 years, or even 500 years for "M" discs. And in the "M" disc case, it's achieved by using a non-organic dye, to avoid the degradation issues.

themafia4mo ago

> structures on the disc aren't as stable.

Which is why the format has generous error correction built in.

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