Re: Archival CDs

From: Jon Lybrook ^lt;jon@terabear.com>
Date: 06/26/05-11:32:00 AM Z
Message-id: <42BEE690.2060400@terabear.com>

I'm not an expert on digital media archiving either, but have a friend
who is. He's an audiophile, music engineer and producer. He's been
telling me since the late 80s the best way to store CD media is
vertically, as gravity will slightly warp the CD over time if stored
flat. The spindles they come on are convenient storage, but apparently
not the best to maintain longevity.

Are the secure plastic cases you refer to typical "jewel" cases? If so,
they merely suspend the CD from the center. If stored horizontally
they'd provide no benefit regarding warping.

I've lost a number of images I thought were secure on CD, only to find
out later the CD had suffered at the hands of some evil gremlin. They
were stored on a spindle in a big stack, vertically. Whether or not
storage orientation had to do with the problem, I can't say for certain.
  Lesson there was, when the data's important, make 2 copies, and store
them in different physical locations and under ideal conditions (cool,
dry, and vertical, IMHO).

I'd be willing to pay $1 per CD if I had some sense it was more than
just marketing hype. As with "archival" inkjet technology, I'd wait and
see about these new CDs before spending a bunch of money on them and
instead rely on redundancy and conventional wisdom regarding ideal
storage conditions.

I've also heard of professional video producers who archive their
enormous amounts of data by putting it on removable IDE hard drives,
sealing it in static-proof mylar bags, when done and putting it on the
shelf. With drives costing less than $1 per gigabyte now, it's a
tempting route to take, as hard drives aren't likely to die on the shelf
(though one must keep tabs on changing technologies and transfer the
data to the newest from time to time -- IDE support won't be around
forever)...

Best wishes,
Jon

joachim oppenheimer wrote:
> Since so much of our
> hard labor hinges on preservation, I wonder if anyone has definitive data on
> this subject? I also wonder why vertical storage, if the CDS are in secure
> plastic cases, should make any difference. Joachim
Received on Sun Jun 26 11:34:24 2005

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : 07/07/05-11:30:55 AM Z CST