It`s about recording
 

Alberta ,Edmonton

So you think all the precious digital pictures you have been saving on CD-ROM are safe?
Think again.
Expert agree,many CDs made with computer-equipped CD burners will not make it past five years.
"Although CD-writing technology has matured,blank CD media is still unpredictable," says Susan Munro of Edmonton-based Mehco Inc.,a CD-ROM duplicating and replicating service.
Munro`s attributes the short CD life to poor sealing of disk edges,allowing moisture and air to seep in and corrode the recorded digital information.
Munro`s best advice for consumers who want to be sure of the quality of CD media they buy is stick with a good brand name and don`t worry about the higher prices.Blank CD cost from 40 cents to $1 each.
But the fact is "stores and consumers have no way of knowing how good blank CDs are,"Munro says.
"the best way a store knows is by the nuilurember of costumer complaining about one particular brand."
Surprisingly.very few stores are aware of longevity issues with recordable CDs,but most say a 10-per-cent failure rate is acceptable.
Computer professionals warn that digital information should not be kept on any medium for more than five years.
That includes hard-drives,floppy drives and data tapes.
"Almost nothing last forever,so the best way maximize the security of important infomation is to store it in as many different ways as possible,[I don`t understand maximize.........,what does he try to saying?," said Martin Parry,spokesman for hard-drive maker Maxtor.Depite hard-drive` low failure rate ,one should back up data,he says.

It was on 30 October,2002 The province news-paper

Any comment?
:newbie: :rolleyes: ;)

I wouldn't worry about it too much. His comments about CDs letting in moisture and thus corroding the material is only really applicable if you allow your CDs to be in an environment that is moist! Think about it... if you keep your CDs in a nice CD case/wallet in the middle of the desert, are they likely to get moisture damage? I think his ideas about puting data onto as many different mediums is an OK idea providing you have the inclination and time, and ability to do so, but would be a potential nightmare for data that needs to be kept secure!

I for one won't really be taking onboard his ideas... I'm quite happy with my setup as it is, thankyou!

£0.02

I don't really agree either. As for most of my digital media, I'd say a good percentage is pictures I have taken. And a good percentage of those are not exactly prize winners. If I have a pic that I either can't live without or want to look at day after day, I print it, and frame it. Other than that, it would only be a few hours for me to get over losing the rest of them.

I have some digital video and things as well that are a little more important to me that are on CD's and such, but I have burned at least 10 copies of each and snailmailed them to my relatives and such, so I guess I have done the other part already, put it on as many different mediums as I can ;)

Some nice ideas though for those who have things which are very valuable to them.

Cool