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Hello Everyone,

I use alternating sets of CD-RW disks to do mirror image backups of my
hard drive each month. Would you suggest how many times you would use the
disks before you would become leery that they could be unreliable. I know
that they can be used quite a few times, but I have never heard a good
estimate as to how many. Any input is welcome.

Thank You,

Wayne R. Russ

I've done the same but weekly and mine only lasted a couple of months.
Kinda annoying when I went to use one to get prints from my digicam.

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"Wayne R. Russ" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Hello Everyone,
>
> I use alternating sets of CD-RW disks to do mirror image backups of my
> hard drive each month. Would you suggest how many times you would use the
> disks before you would become leery that they could be unreliable. I know
> that they can be used quite a few times, but I have never heard a good
> estimate as to how many. Any input is welcome.
>
> Thank You,
>
> Wayne R. Russ
>
>

On Sun, 01 Feb 2004 09:51:12 -0500, Wayne R. Russ wrote:

> Hello Everyone,
>
> I use alternating sets of CD-RW disks to do mirror image backups of my
> hard drive each month. Would you suggest how many times you would use the
> disks before you would become leery that they could be unreliable. I know
> that they can be used quite a few times, but I have never heard a good
> estimate as to how many. Any input is welcome.

From the cdr-faq

http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq02.html#S2-12

<quote>

CD-RW media is more expensive than CD-R, but recent price reductions have
narrowed the gap considerably. There is a limit to the number of times an
area of the disc can be rewritten, but that number is relatively high (the
Orange Book requires 1000, but some manufacturers have claimed as much as
100,000). Of course, this is under laboratory conditions. If you don't
handle the disc carefully, you will add scratches, dirt, fingerprints, and
other obstacles that make the disc harder for the drive to read.

<quote>

I have heard that 50-100 writes could be more accurate.
So, as each of your disk sets are only doing 6 writes per year I would say
you should be OK until it´s time to get a DVD Writer. ;o)
Just to be on the safe side you could make an occasional image to *CDR*
and send them to a friend for safe keeping.
A couple more related links-

http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq07.html#S7-5

http://www.mrichter.com/cdr/primer/durable.htm

http://www.mrichter.com/cdr/primer/lifetime.htm

So if that were the case, how can someone determine the CD-RW is no good
before losing data?

Does disk fail the write immediately or would it fail to read after a few
months?

Mike

"bambam" <> wrote in message
news...
> On Sun, 01 Feb 2004 09:51:12 -0500, Wayne R. Russ wrote:
>
> > Hello Everyone,
> >
> > I use alternating sets of CD-RW disks to do mirror image backups of
my
> > hard drive each month. Would you suggest how many times you would use
the
> > disks before you would become leery that they could be unreliable. I
know
> > that they can be used quite a few times, but I have never heard a good
> > estimate as to how many. Any input is welcome.
>
> From the cdr-faq
>
> http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq02.html#S2-12
>
> <quote>
>
> CD-RW media is more expensive than CD-R, but recent price reductions have
> narrowed the gap considerably. There is a limit to the number of times an
> area of the disc can be rewritten, but that number is relatively high (the
> Orange Book requires 1000, but some manufacturers have claimed as much as
> 100,000). Of course, this is under laboratory conditions. If you don't
> handle the disc carefully, you will add scratches, dirt, fingerprints, and
> other obstacles that make the disc harder for the drive to read.
>
> <quote>
>
> I have heard that 50-100 writes could be more accurate.
> So, as each of your disk sets are only doing 6 writes per year I would say
> you should be OK until it´s time to get a DVD Writer. ;o)
> Just to be on the safe side you could make an occasional image to *CDR*
> and send them to a friend for safe keeping.
> A couple more related links-
>
> http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq07.html#S7-5
>
> http://www.mrichter.com/cdr/primer/durable.htm
>
> http://www.mrichter.com/cdr/primer/lifetime.htm

"Mike Lee" <> wrote in message
news:HmyTb.16122$ft1.6594@clgrps12...
> So if that were the case, how can someone determine the CD-RW is no good
> before losing data?
>
> Does disk fail the write immediately or would it fail to read after a few
> months?

It can burn successfully, then be unreadable when you try and use it to
recover files. It's difficult to predict. All I can recommend is buy quality
media, and keep it well protected, scratch-free, and in a cool, dark place.
If you do all of this, you should have good luck with it. If you treat them
like any other CD, you are in for trouble. Always use a data verify pass for
backups to verify that it is at least readable when you burn it. It also
helps to pop the disc into another machine or drive to verify that something
other than the burner can read the disc.