Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Unable to read old, crummy, CDRs

This is scary. I remember, some years back, finding that old floppy disks I'd stored had become unreadable after a few years, but this is the first time I've seen it with optical disks.

can't read.png


This disk was burnt in October 1999. I've tried two CD readers and will try more, but so far this isn't looking good. The videos on this CD are irreplaceable, well the original might be somewhere on VHS cassette.

To be fair, these were budget Princo blanks, but the disk still looks good and it's been well stored.

princo.jpg


Got the disk to mount in a laptop, but copying is not going well.

Picture 1.png


I'm going to keep uploading my valuable files to the cloud, it's safer than around here.

Anyone else finding they can't read their old optical disks? What is the lifespan of CDRs?
at

2 comments:

  1. Adam11:47 PM

    Good CDRs, stored in a cool dark environment can last 10+ years, but cheap CDRs stored in a normal environment may only last a year or two.

    If you want to store data long term on CD, you'll need to look for archival quality media.

    -Adam

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  2. vk3ase12:20 PM

    Checked my old Princo discs and
    they seem ok with cd audio on them.
    Mostly i used TDK and Kodak and they
    are ok as well. Dont use them now
    as every thing has been transferd to
    DVD and now 1Tb drives for instant
    access. Would like to put stuff in the cloud but hopeless upload speed
    with optus cable.

    Cheers
    Dave

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