Life span of CD's and DVD's

[ricleo2]

I just read an article at MSN stating that burned CD's only last 2 to 5 years. It doesn't say anything about burned DVD's. I spent several hours burning all my home video on to DVD's thinking the DVD will last forever. Anybody have an opinion on the life span of a burned DVD?

 

[Icepick]

I'm curious about this too, since I'm going to transfer my home videos to DVD soon. I read an article a few months back where they stated that DVDs and CDs were susceptible to corrosion over time.

The best advice I've heard so far is to be sure you use one time recordable discs instead of rewriteable ones. They are theorized to last longer.

Edit: Here's what I found out about burned CDs.
"CD-Rs, after recording, are estimated to last between 70 and 200 years."

 

[Atheus]

Maybe it depends on the burner? I remember the old SCSI CD burners were said to give a really 'deep' burn, and the CDs would work in crappy players which wouldn't accept a normal burned CD.

In theory DVDs would last a shorter time as each bit is contained in a physically smaller space.

 

[shreeit]

I listen CDs which burns I burned 4-5 year ago and it's heard same as new. I don't know about DVDs. I am not expert about this technology, but it's just sequance of bits 0 or 1 data store on surface, Don't know how it will be corrupted..

SHreeit

 

[corkyg]

The burned dye surface technology is about the same in both CDRs and DVDRs. I have many CDRs burned 10 years agoi - and they are all in perfect shape.

I would say that a lot of this depends on the storage environment, i.e., case, temperature, and exposure to light as well as frequency of usage.

 

[Taz480]

Originally posted by: corkyg

I would say that a lot of this depends on the storage environment, i.e., case, temperature, and exposure to light as well as frequency of usage.

What are you sayin? So, just laying on my desk where the kids can get it and wrap it up with an assault of scotch tape isn't proper storage environment?
Must see-Funny!

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: Taz480
What are you sayin? So, just laying on my desk where the kids can get it and wrap it up with an assault of scotch tape isn't proper storage environment?

That's one aspect to consider . . . Any time kids are involved, you can knock off a couple of years of useful life. Same for cats!

 

[ricleo2]

I believe I will make copies of my DVD's every 2 years to play it safe. Thanks for all the responses.

 

[sieistganzfett]

at work where we use the same set of 3 burned cds of a cd such as winxp home with all updates to 11-11-05 slipstreamed... the set of three lasted until this week. the cds either went awol or they are too scratched to read completely without errors in any cd drive. so thats a 2 month life time. my burned cd-rs at home i use as data or program backups still read completey with no errors and they are 5 yrs old. so avg this out and they get 2yrs. its quality of cd/dvd and how its used, not as beer coasters for example.

 

[Fardringle]

I think it's primarily a matter of the quality of the media and how it is stored/used. I burned some data to a cheap set of CDs around June of last year and the film is already starting to peel away from the disc so they are completely unusuable. On the other hand, I have some data burned to good quality discs from 1995/1996 (burned on an industrial burner the tech department at my college had) that were stored in a safe environment and they are still completely readable.