Comment on Twenty percent of hard drives used for long-term music storage in the 90s have failed
huf@hexbear.net 6 days ago
how did these people not know that hard drives die??? CDs die. DVDs die. the only way to keep your data is to copy it periodically, and this has always been true.
ffs, fucking DNA survives because life keeps copying it all the time.
Gucci_Minh@hexbear.net 6 days ago
Optical discs like CDs and DVDs last a very long time if stored properly. It’s using them that kills them fast. So in terms of data archival they’re actually pretty good. Regardless, u right, make backups of backups and replace the media its stored on every once in a while.
BrikoX@lemmy.zip 6 days ago
Not really.
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Source: canada.ca/…/longevity-recordable-cds-dvds.html
Gucci_Minh@hexbear.net 6 days ago
Yeah I work for a place that uses discs for archival in addition to tapes and the discs do have specific requirements for storage, like opaque boxes in a temp and humidity controlled room. The discs are also some fancy Japanese brand I’ve never heard of. Probably best not to pickup a pack of CD-R at the walmart and use those.
huf@hexbear.net 6 days ago
i’ve had factory printed DVDs die while stored at room temperature in the dark (case). they just developed holes.
mark3748@sh.itjust.works 6 days ago
Pressed optical disks, yes. Dye-based writable and re-writable do not last very long at all.
Depending on the disc, they can last anywhere from 5 to over 100 years. The over 100 year ones are (were?) marketed as archival, and only CD-R. Do not trust any random writable disc to survive very long.
I tested some backup DVDs from 2012 a couple of months ago and they were completely unreadable.