CD-R life span

[Tobal]

Can some tell me how long the average all burned with data CD-R can last, some guy on another message board report that Tech TV said they only last 2 years, even if mint. I was under the impression it last for 40-50 years.

[choddo]

If kept in optimum conditions, they are designed to last 20-30 years, any temperatures or humidity they don't like will affect that, but I have no idea how you estimate it.

[Vaipon]

There was a recent discussion about certain DVD+R media only lasting 2 years, but I never heard anything about CD-Rs failing after this amount of time.

The advice on the CD-R lifespan varies greatly depending on who you ask, brand of disc, storage conditions etc. I've seen disc manufacturers give an estimate of well over 100 years (which is more than most CDs are estimated to last). Probably around 30-60 years I reckon though.

Any data cds have a fair amount of CRC data that will error correct in the event of a small read failure. You will probably start to see your drive struggling to read a CDR when it starts to break down, but it will *still be readable* albeit it slowly. If the data is absolutely critical, you will be able to copy it onto other media when this happens.

At the end of the day, it's pretty moot. In 30+ years time, we're all going to be using some unheard of storage format, which may not even be optical based. All your important CDROM collection will of been backed up onto a couple of these discs with space to spare. The degradation of CDR media really isn't something to be that concerned about imo. Original silver CDROMS are supposed to last ages though, so your originals will work for the duration of your lifetime as long as you take care of them.

[kona]

There was an article on the register a few days ago ( http://theregister.co.uk/content/54/32593.html ) which said that some of the cheapo CDRs can last as little as two years. Good brands though (Verbatim, TDK) use superior dyes that should last much longer.

[probeater]

I saw that in the guardian, I'm now going through backing up all my important data help on cheap cdr's on to verbatim ones (Although verbatims don't seem to be as good as I remember, they used to have a really deep purple hue but they just seem to be cheaper looking nowdays) but still 99% of people recommend verbatims, they are also only ?10 for 50 from jessops at the moment.