How do DVDs age? - Democratic Underground

The Backlash Cometh

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Sun May-25-08 07:07 PM
Original message

How do DVDs age?

Do home DVDs age the same way that videos do? Does the image begin to fade over time? Does it make a difference if you made back-up copies you never planned to use except for copy purposes?

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Deja Q

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Sun May-25-08 07:33 PM
Response to Original message

1. The sectors will decay over time...

I've had blank discs go bad after 3 years; some have lasted 6 and going strong...

ALWAYS have a backup copy when possible.

As the images are stories as digital information (binary with redundancy checking to reduce errors), they don't lose color or sharpness. But once an unrecoverable error occurs, that bit is toast. No pun intended...

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The Backlash Cometh

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Sun May-25-08 07:50 PM
Response to Reply #1

2. When you say "decay."

Does that mean that it could be on the shelf without ever being used, and the sectors still can wear down, anyways?

Does that mean that I should be making copies of the old disks every five years?

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RoyGBiv

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Sun May-25-08 08:43 PM
Response to Reply #2

3. Chemicals decay ...

If you're talking about consumer blanks you use for burning, they'll decay surprisingly rapidly depending on the environment.

The bits the laser reads are imprinted into chemicals in these DVDs. Commercial DVDs are made differently with the "stamp" imprinted through a mass production process that lasts longer.

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hobbit709

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Tue May-27-08 04:47 AM
Response to Reply #3

5. The cheaper blanks usually deteriorate faster

If the layers that make up the disk are not completely sealed together, air gets in and breaks down the chemicals that make up the burn layer. From what I understand RW disks last longer since the burn layer is a metal alloy instead of a chemical compound. Of course RWs are a bit more expensive. Anything I really want to keep I put on a RW and a regular R and is usually on a hard drive somewhere too.

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Duer 157099

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Tue May-27-08 02:35 AM
Response to Reply #2

4. Try putting some hard drives into your redundancy loop

Like when you upgrade your HD, use the old drive to copy some old CD/DVDs onto, as an archive. Or even better, when you find a good sale on big ole hard drives, pick one up and use that.

My feeling is the more the better, at least one copy will survive somewhere, hopefully.

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