[sahwnfras]

Im not talking about CD-Rs, I mean bought CDs.

How long will one last if its properly taken care of. Also whats the best way to store them, horizontal vertical? dark or light? hot cold? those kinda things. Whats the best way to keep your CDs last forever.

 

[Happy Camper]

And if you don't mind, what makes them degrade the most? Temp., sunlight, etc.

 

[soundboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sahwnfras /img/forum/go_quote.gif Im not talking about CD-Rs, I mean bought CDs. How long will one last if its properly taken care of. Also whats the best way to store them, horizontal vertical? dark or light? hot cold? those kinda things. Whats the best way to keep your CDs last forever.

The pictured CD, Seiko Matsuda's "Pineapple", was one of the first 50 CD titles released on October 1, 1982....

So this CD is over 25 years old and it's still in perfect condition. In fact, if you click on the link in my signature, almost all of those CDs are at least 20 years old. However, I only got this CD within the last 6 months or so, therefore I am not sure what kind of life it had before me.

As for the CDs that I've owned the longest, the below Samantha Lam CD was one of first CD purchase from early 1987....

Again, still in excellent shape. You definitely don't want to expose CDs to temperature extremes or direct sunlight. From what I've heard, too high of humidity is not good either. My CDs are always stored vertically.

You may have noticed the 2 CDs I chose to picture are from CBS/Sony and was pressed by Sony in Japan. However, I have CDs of similar vintage from PolyGram pressed in West Germany, Japan (pressed by Sanyo), France, and Korea that are still functioning perfectly.

 

[Chickenman]

Gasp! Those CDs are older than me!

 

[Omega]

Longer than your lifetime, if you're just storing them. They're mostly made of polycarbonate plastic with aluminum or gold alloys for the reflective layer.

Polycarbonate is pretty stable, but absorbs strongly in the UV spectrum. So, keep them away from UV radiation (that includes sunlight). Polycarbonate is completely insoluble in water, but will be solvated/destroyed by most organic solvents. So, stay away from organic solvents too.

And heat ages polymers like polycarbonate, equivalent to age...err...time. So, storing CD's in a hot environment will accelerate aging.

Oh, and microwaves. Don't put them in a microwave...

 

[Omega]

Forgot to rank order the insults:

(from most degrading to most mild)

intense microwave radiation > organic solvent (ie, acetone) > UV exposure (ie, sunlight) > mild heat > scratches from normal handling > time

 

[Lpe_91]

Do the same rules apply to burned CD-R's? And how long will they last if taken care of properly?

 

[soundboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lpe_91 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do the same rules apply to burned CD-R's? And how long will they last if taken care of properly?

I don't believe so. Wasn't there some kind of research that indicated that CD-Rs start to go bad in 5 years?

 

[DanT]

There was a guide for librarian and archivist to explain and store CDs

Here a link
Abstract—Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs: A Guide for Librarians and Archivists . (PDF or HTML)

 

[Omega]

No, CD-R's use a different reflective layer that degrades more easily. While a pressed CD has a stable metallic reflective layer, deep within the disc...a CD-R uses a quasi-crystalline reflective layer. Different qualities of disc have different aging/degradation properties. The benchmark for longevity used to be the deep blue azo CD-R's (I've only seen them as Verbatim brand). Haven't seen those in a long time though. I think conservative estimate for shelf life on a "normal" CD-R is 5 years. So, to be reasonably certain you're not getting data loss on cheapo commodity CD-R's, you would need to re-burn a fresh disc every 5 years.

 

[GAD]

Has anyone actually had a CD-R "go bad" with age?

I have 10 year old CD-Rs burned with one of the first commercially available CD-R drives that still work just fine. I've done nothing to take care of them, and in fact they were probably "stored" in a stack of naked CDs.

I think it's all fear mongering to get you to buy more CD-Rs. I'm sure there's a life span, but I doubt it's 5 years. Hell I have floppies that are 15 years old that still work, and VHS tapes that are 25 years old that still play fine. I trust the VHS and floppies less each time I use them since they're a contact media, but my point is I think we all worry about this too much.

Make multiple copies of important data and keep one copy in a safety deposit box.

Every time a new format of writable media comes out (CD-R -> DVD-R -> DVD-DL-R), I re-burn my data to save space and archive the old discs.

GAD

 

[beerguy0]

I have CD's I bought back in the 80's, and have yet to ever have any issue with any of them. CD-R's are another matter. I have several CD-R's (and DVD-R's) that are no longer readable, even on the burner that created them originally, so I don't trust recordable media all that much. If it's critical, I make two copies.

I do have a number of the Verbatim CD-R's, and don't recall ever having one of those fail. I think the failed CD-R's are all IBM brand. (Light blue media)

 

[zotjen]

I have heard of instances, particularly with a couple of budget classical labels, where some older CDs have corroded. This seems to be a result of a manufacturing defect and/or related to the ink that was pressed on the CD.

It had nothing to do with aging. I have a few of the CDs that other people reported problems with, and mine are fine.

 

[skudmunky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by beerguy0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have CD's I bought back in the 80's, and have yet to ever have any issue with any of them. CD-R's are another matter. I have several CD-R's (and DVD-R's) that are no longer readable, even on the burner that created them originally, so I don't trust recordable media all that much. If it's critical, I make two copies. I do have a number of the Verbatim CD-R's, and don't recall ever having one of those fail. I think the failed CD-R's are all IBM brand. (Light blue media)

It depends on the material of the CD. Cheap CDRs are generally cyan colored, and don't last nearly as long as a normal CD.

 

[Bizzel]

Some of my dad's Naxos CDs have degraded to the point where they can't be read. Those discs must be about 20 years old now and there are maybe 2 or 3 like that.