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Temperature? I've yet to experience rot on decades old discs at home. Most sit in a basement that doesn't exceed 68*F
by throwaway946513 5y ago
Temperature? I've yet to experience rot on decades old discs at home. Most sit in a basement that doesn't exceed 68*F
- 0des 5y agoA constant 72F, this is an indoor closet, top shelf, no moisture incidents.
- MivLives 5y agoIt's a well known problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_rot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_rot
- TacticalCoder 5y agoYup it's a well-known problem, but several of us still have CDs decades old that still do read totally fine. That doesn't mean we rely on them as backups: mine have long since been copied to DVDs, then more recent DVDs but also backup'ed on harddrive / servers etc.
- rbanffy 5y agoCDs and DVDs are pressed. Recordable media is not and, with the wrong conditions, will rot. DVD-RWs will get corrupted if you look funny at them.
- mixmastamyk 5y agoI still have music CDs from 1985 and CD-R from 1995 in perfect condition. None of them have gone bad.
- throwaway946513 5y agoThe linked article also explains: > DVDs are more resistant to rot > DVDs and CDs use aluminum layers for the reflective 'data encoded' layer > Discs using a gold layer are extremely resistant to corrosion and thus disc rot > Blu-ray discs use a silver-alloy for their reflective layer. Though not linked, or stated, it is quite likely that the BR discs are significantly less likely to be damaged due to disc rot for similar reasons as gold-layered discs are, though not necessarily as resistant as gold. Disc rot though appears to stem due to the damage of the lacquer or plastic layer on discs, which if the disc then remains undamaged, it should not be as susceptible to rot.
- cogman10 5y agoWe are mostly talking about burnt discs which achieve their burning via chemical reactions with light. Those disks rot. Any standard Blu-ray/DVD/CD you have has no rotting as it's simply pressed.
- adrian_b 5y agoWhile the pressed discs should have a longer life, there are some where the metallic mirror oxidizes in time and it becomes partially transparent, which results in reading errors. The oxidation speed depends on the quality of the lacquer that protects the mirror (on the label side), so it varies greatly between manufacturers. As an end-user, you cannot predict the lifetime, you can just hope for the best. There have been archival CDs, with gold used for the mirror instead of aluminum. Those were immune to oxidation, but they have been discontinued, due to high cost.