Data Saved on CD May Not Be Safe
August 25, 2005 – 7:20 amYou have backed up all of your photos and critical data to CDs or DVDs so they are safe – right? Well, maybe not. CDs and DVDs that are burned could have a short life. The “burning” process uses a laser to inscribe information on the disc. The result is read as 1’s and 0’s by the laser on playback. Although there is no definitive evidence (studies are under way), there have been numerous reports of data loss from CDs and DVDs as a result of deterioration of the write layer.
You may want to re-burn your critical disks yearly. You don’t have to worry about book on CD etc since they are molded (not burned) and should last for many years.
One Response to “Data Saved on CD May Not Be Safe”
They’ve been saying that cd’s and dvd’s should last 30 years if good media (name brand) is used, they are stored properly, and they are checked initially for a good burn. I think they know this because all the cd’s burned in the 70’s are starting to go belly up.
Cd Diagnostic from infadyne:
http://www.infinadyne.com/cddvd_diagnostic.html
is pretty good about recovering data from bad cd’s provided they were originally valid.
By Greg on Aug 30, 2005