Thanks for the translation, Evert.
Disturbing, to say the least... I wonder if there were other similar studies
and if results from other sources are available.
Dominique Laloux
-----Original Message-----
From: evertveldhuis
To:
Sent: 03/09/03 22:01
Subject: [Nature Recordists] Re: cds as archive medium - maybe not!
--- In "evertveldhuis"
<> wrote:
> i'll look into it and translate it
> >
My English is a bit rusty and too formal, but I hope it will do :)
====
Tuesday august 19, 2003
CD-R's unreadable after 2 years
Random test shows disturbing results
By Jeroen Horlings
Valuable data on a CD-R aren't always keepable for long. Our test
(published in the September issue of PC-Active) shows the data can
become unreadable within 2 years. There is a large chance that
important personal information is lost when using certain brands of
CD-R's.
As a regular reader of our magazine, you probably already know we
did extensive testing in 2001 and published the results back then.
Those test showed that brand new CD-R's aren't up to the standard
quality demands. We have saved the 30 different brands we tested in
2001 in their original (unopened) seals in a closed closet. For
the `CD-R-ROT' article, (Evert: Rot is Dutch for the decay or
rotting process) we have again tested these discs on a professional
CD analyzer which can accurately determine the state of the CD-R.
On this picture you see the same exact CD-R. On the left the test
result of 2001, on the right the same CD-R in 2003. The colors show
the degree of errors in the order white, green, yellow and red. This
stands for good readable (white), to unreadable (red).
The tests showed that some CD-R's were completely unreadable, and
with some CD-R's part of the data was unreadable. Data burned on CD
some 20 months ago had become unreadable. These were CD-R's from
both well known as lesser known brands.
Often one assumes that CD-R's can store its data for at least 10
years. Some manufacturers claim a tenability of a century. Our
random test shows there is a lot of garbage on the market. We have
found CD-R's that shouldn't have been allowed to be sold. These are
clearly discarded stacks (Evert: discarded as in ; material that
failed to meet the quality demands and should be dumped in the
garbage bin). It is totally unacceptable that CD-R's become
completely unusable within 2 years.
In the September issue (in the stores at August 22), the shocking
results are described extended(ly). Besides the possible reasons for
loosing data, we also give valuable tips to keep your data safe for
the future. On the enclosed free CD-ROM is a software application to
test the quality of your own CD-R.
====
Regards, Evert - Dutch Dude who is gonna buy the magazine to own
that CD-R test software thingie :)
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