4 ms·
> If I buy a CD-ROM, I know it’s going to outlive me. Not necessarily true: they do degrade over time. DVDs are even worse, so I imagine (without evidence) th
by eadmund 5y ago
> If I buy a CD-ROM, I know it’s going to outlive me.
Not necessarily true: they do degrade over time. DVDs are even worse, so I imagine (without evidence) that Blu-Ray discs are even more sensitive.
Really, you want to move your physical media to lossless digital as soon as you get it, and store it in a format that is both backed up and resilient to bit flips.
- zenexer 5y agoCD-ROMs typically don’t degrade. CD-Rs and such do. CD-ROMs have physical pits etched into the plastic, as do mass-produced DVDs and BDs. These advantages don’t apply to discs you produce yourself, however. It can happen, but it’s rare—not so rare that I forgo backups, but rare enough that I continue to maintain an archive of actual CD-ROMs.