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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | "S. Kelly Sears" <sksears@eps.mcgill.ca> |
| Subject | CD/DVD as archival media revisited |
| Date | Tue, 07 Dec 2004 12:05:31 -0500 |
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As archiving data is always an important consideration in my field
(electron microscopy), I am forwarding a few comments.
Buy gold or silver CD-Rs, and buy a reputable brand. 'Gold' or 'silver' CDs usually use a reactive metal coating to store data, rather than a photoreactive dye as seen in 'green' or 'blue' CDs. The metal based CD-R is more stable and (usually) better quality. I'd trust these for 5 years. Good brands are Kodak, Imation, Verbatim, TDK, Sony, Mitsubishi. Other brands may be good too, if you trust their VHS or Audio tapes then you can trust their CD-Rs. Mitsui DVD-R media are very good. Their media is rated at 75 year retention. Their Gold Archival CD-R is rated at 100 years. Obviously, don't expect these results if you leave them on the rear deck of your car for twenty years.
- Never ever CR-RW. Untrustworthy and expensive. CD-Rs are cheap, use it, store it, throw it away. Better than losing data.
- Buy a good CD writer. This is hard for those not savvy with PCs. Buy a good brand, and not all the good brands are well-known brands. Asus, Sony, Pioneer, and Plextor are considered the best. Never use HP CD writers, though this is mostly from poor personal experience. Finally, buy a new one every two years, or more often if you use it lots. Make sure that it has a 2MB buffer or bigger (8MB is best) and some form of 'underrun protection'.
- Get good software and use it. Forget the widgets built into Windows 2000/XP, too easy to stuff up. Don't use DirectCD. Don't use ROXIO (some versions of Roxio software had some serious bugs that put your whole hard drive at risk! I'm not forgiving enough to start using their software again). Nero Burning ROM is recommended. It's cheap, easy, and often comes bundled with a CD-Writer. CloneCD is a good package for just copying CDs.
- Keep your CDs safe. A cool dry dark place. A cupboard is fine. Do not keep CDs in the fridge or freezer, some brands get very brittle at low temperatures and will shatter in the CD drive. Keep them out of direct sunlight and don't store them in a car.
The URL links to a good article on the care and handling of CDs and
DVDs. It is copublished by CLIR (Council on Library and Information
Resources) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub121/contents.html
-- Kelly
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