#Archival life – CD-R
5 messages in this thread
>>While everyone's seem to have heard of Kodak's (gold dye) guarentee of 100
years life, I'd be interested to see where the mere 20 years on cyanine (green
dye) for archival came up?
I think I've found at least one source for this idea: Mitsui Toatsu's marketing
literature states: "The information on a Mitsui CD-R will last for over 100
years. Cyanine based products might last 20 years."
(Interesting semantics – does that mean the shelf life of the unrecorded
cyanine media is 20 years, or the recorded discs will last 20 years? Does it
mean they also might last LONGER than 20 years?)
TDK states the estimated life of their discs as "greater than 10 years".
(Pretty cautious, but there's something to be said for not setting impossible
expectations.)
3M, who resells Taiyo Yuden discs (cyanine) has stated an estimated life up up
to 300 years, based on their in-house tests. (I can just see your
great-great-great-grandchildren asking 3M for their money back.)
Dana,
Thanks for the reply, but it was actually Scott Bracken who wrote the message
you replied to. In one day's use of the One-Off CD Shop's account I used to
use he managed to confuse at least three or four people <G>.
However, since I'm here anyway….
>>3M, who resells Taiyo Yuden discs (cyanine) has stated an estimated life up
up to 300 years, based on their in-house tests. (I can just see your
great-great-great-grandchildren asking 3M for their money back.)
A couple of years ago, at interMedia '93, when 3M first started making their
claims of "100 years or more" I asked their media product manager what would
happen if my disc failed in just 99 years, and he promised to "personally
refund the price of the disc." Makes for fun marketing, but is it really
meaningful? Do you (or does anyone) really care if the things last more than
10 or 20 years? That's still longer than any other medium can really claim…
microfiche fades, even sitting in a drawer; tape loses it's magnetic signal and
its tensioning, paper isn't electronic to begin with…
Kathy
>>Thanks for the reply, but it was actually Scott Bracken who wrote the message
you replied to. In one day's use of the One-Off CD Shop's account I used to
use he managed to confuse at least three or four people <G>.
Oh, darn. I just went back to the thread where it appeared, and didn't check
the UID to see if it was yours. Notify Scott, will you please?
>> Do you (or does anyone) really care if the things last more than 10 or 20
years? That's still longer than any other medium can really claim…
microfiche fades, even sitting in a drawer; tape loses it's magnetic signal and
its tensioning, paper isn't electronic to begin with…
You know that, and I know that, but it (20 years or 100 years) seems to make a
big difference to those who are looking for archival permanence. Kinda funny,
that anything over 10 years wouldn't be considered the best possible medium,
when nothing else can claim to last even that long. What amazes me is that
people are still hesitating to commit their data to CD-R, even though it
obviously lasts longer than anyhing else…
Digressing a bit, I did some consulting recently for Price Waterhouse, and they
had never even heard of CD-R. I ran into some folks at REPLItech who had no
idea you could record a CD on a desktop, either. Scary.
<< Kinda funny, that anything over 10 years wouldn't be considered the best
possible medium, when nothing else can claim to last even that long.>>
How about books? They require more care than CDs, but at least they can be read
back by anyone literate in the language, no special equipment required and no
standards to meet. Some are still being read centuries later.
D'
>>How about books? They require more care than CDs, but at least they can be
read back by anyone literate in the language, no special equipment required and
no standards to meet. Some are still being read centuries later.
Perhaps I should have specified _electronic_ medium. <g>