Re: Unreadable CD-Rs: I guess ten years is about the limit
 

Mxsmanic wrote:
> I went to pull an archived scan off a CD today, and the CD was unreadable.
> Scratch that photo. The CD-R had been burned in 2002, so that's ten years. I
> have no idea how many other archive CDs of mine are also unreadable. I guess
> I'll find out eventually.
>
> It's too bad, because I really liked the photo in question.

Hi,

I use T-Y blank CD-Rs for all my important backups. They are made by
Taiyo-Yuden in Japan, have a cyanine dye (blue-green color), and are
said to be much more stable than ordinary blank CD-Rs.When buying them
on-line in spindle packs of 100, they cost about 32 cents each.I back up
my photographs and music on CD-Rs, PCs'hard drive, external hard drive,
and their SD cards.So far, my 10 year old photo CD-Rs are ok.

Mort Linder

Re: Unreadable CD-Rs: I guess ten years is about the limit
 

In article <4f8b114e$0$12877$607ed4bc@cv.net>, Mort <mort@cloud9.net> wrote:
>Mxsmanic wrote:
>> I went to pull an archived scan off a CD today, and the CD was unreadable.
>> Scratch that photo. The CD-R had been burned in 2002, so that's ten years. I
>> have no idea how many other archive CDs of mine are also unreadable. I guess
>> I'll find out eventually.
>>
>> It's too bad, because I really liked the photo in question.
>
>Hi,
>
>I use T-Y blank CD-Rs for all my important backups. They are made by
>Taiyo-Yuden in Japan, have a cyanine dye (blue-green color), and are
>said to be much more stable than ordinary blank CD-Rs.When buying them
>on-line in spindle packs of 100, they cost about 32 cents each.I back up
>my photographs and music on CD-Rs, PCs'hard drive, external hard drive,
>and their SD cards.So far, my 10 year old photo CD-Rs are ok.
>
>Mort Linder
>

Taiyo-Yuden are definitely the best I have found, and yes there is
a real difference in CD-R quality among manufacturers. TY are often
branded as Sony, Fuji etc -- the way to pick out a real TY is to look
for "Made in Japan" in small print somewhere on the packaging.

Or, you can search for TY branded CD-Rs on Amazon.

As for the whole thread, I have found that some of the earliest CDR-s
that I burned (and have kept), have physical issues with cracking
around the spindle hole as if they have become very brittle. I have
had good success reading and backing up cracked CDRs (even some where
the crack goes all the way across the disk!), but I have lost some.

And of course, there's the issue of my house burning down (it hasn't, but
it might..). I have a web site with unlimited storage (it's not that
expensive) so now I upload most everything, though the bandwidth issues
can be maddening at times.
--
------
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

Re: Unreadable CD-Rs: I guess ten years is about the limit
 

In article <4f8b114e$0$12877$607ed4bc@cv.net>, Mort <mort@cloud9.net>
wrote:

> I use T-Y blank CD-Rs for all my important backups. They are made by
> Taiyo-Yuden in Japan, have a cyanine dye (blue-green color), and are
> said to be much more stable than ordinary blank CD-Rs.

taiyo-yuden is very, very good, as are verbatim azo 'blues' (not their
cheaper line).

kodak used to make archival cds with extra layers to protect it from
deterioration. they were really good but they cost more than normal
cds. not enough people bought them so they ceased production.

people wanted the 'free after rebate' garbage. now they're complaining
they can't read their cds.

Re: Unreadable CD-Rs: I guess ten years is about the limit
 

In article <2012041516593629560-savageduck1@REMOVESPAMmecom>,
Savageduck <savageduck1@{REMOVESPAM}me.com> wrote:

> > people wanted the 'free after rebate' garbage. now they're complaining
> > they can't read their cds.
>
> The worst DVDs I have experienced were the crap produced by Memorex.
> Sony is OK, but variable as they have outsourced much of their disc
> production and it is tough to find any consistency with their product
> now.

neither one makes cds or dvds. they buy from the cheapest supplier.

> So far I have been most satisfied with Ritek Ridata DVD+R DLs

ritek is average, but much better than it used to be.

> followed
> by high grade Verbatim DVD+R DLs,

verbatim blues are good.

however, i don't like dl discs at all.

> not the standard editions as they
> have similar issues to Sony.

true, the cheap verbatims are not so hot

> Among 4.7GB DVDs I have been happy with HP's offerings even though I
> understand they are outsourced.

nearly everything is lowest bidder and can change. even two packages on
the same shelf may be different.

checking the label used to be a reasonable way to tell but that isn't
all that reliable anymore.

the best way is to read the atip off the disk (some burn utilities do
this) but the *really* crappy discs just copy another manufacturer's
data rather than put their own info so you still might be fooled.

another tip is check the actual raw error rate of the burn. if it's too
high the burn will fail. if it's a little below the threshold, it will
pass, however, a little degradation and it becomes too high and fails.
the lower the error rate the more wiggle room you have for degradation
to kill the disc. unfortunately, most burn utilities just say pass/fail
which doesn't tell you all that much.

Re: Unreadable CD-Rs: I guess ten years is about the limit
 

In article <29umo7hqn0blolljlmf5agtoi4kd9r0d3h@4ax.com>, Mxsmanic
<mxsmanic@gmail.com> wrote:

> > kodak used to make archival cds with extra layers to protect it from
> > deterioration. they were really good but they cost more than normal
> > cds. not enough people bought them so they ceased production.
>
> I was looking at some of my other archive copies on Kodak CD-Rs that were gold
> in color, and they are perfectly readable.

that does not surprise me. those discs were very, very good.

> The problem is that I could never tell what level of quality I was getting. I
> never looked for the cheapest, I just bought what was available when I needed
> CDs, and sometimes they were fancy ones, and sometimes not (I usually didn't
> even look at the price as CD-Rs never were very expensive).

you can't tell. you can read the labels but even 'made in japan', which
was once a virtual guarantee of taiyo-yuden, isn't a good indication
anymore. it's almost impossible to get ty media in a store these days.
there are also a lot of new countries, including canada, indonesia and
others. it's a crap shoot.

> The failing CD-R simply says "Memorex" on it.

that means nothing. memorex buys from a lot of manufacturers. most of
the time it's junk but not always.

Re: Unreadable CD-Rs: I guess ten years is about the limit
 

In article <0bfno7ttd0o4j2kiqndoro9s9fl6qdlkrl@4ax.com>, Mxsmanic
<mxsmanic@gmail.com> wrote:

> > that does not surprise me. those discs were very, very good.
>
> You're using the past tense ... does that mean that they aren't available any
> more?

kodak ceased cd production long ago because not enough people were
buying them. people didn't want to pay a slight premium (it wasn't
really that much more) for more reliable discs.

> > you can't tell. you can read the labels but even 'made in japan', which
> > was once a virtual guarantee of taiyo-yuden, isn't a good indication
> > anymore. it's almost impossible to get ty media in a store these days.
> > there are also a lot of new countries, including canada, indonesia and
> > others. it's a crap shoot.
>
> Great.

yea, it sucks.

the best you can do is buy taiyo yuden online or get verbatim blue azo
discs in stores.