CDRLabs.com

I have some videos and pictures that I wanna save for more than a
100 years. Supposed I recorded them on an Imation 16X DVD+R
or Verbatim 4X DVD+R or -R, how many years or decades do I have
to record to a new disc before dye degradation destroys the data.

Is there a list somewhere of the lifetime of each brand and speed.

Also they say the original DVD movie discs can last a century. How does a DVD-R differs from an original movie discs. Do the latter last much
longer than those consumer media. Or are they similar in constructions?

Pegg

No one knows for sure, only accelerated tests have been done which may or may not represent anything. Personally, I doubt Imation discs can last 100 minutes, much less 100 years, but that's just my crappy experiences with their media. It's generally accepted that "good" media is good media, like Taiyo Yuden discs... if you start out with an excellent, low error burn, then even if errors start creeping in, at least you're still ahead of the game. If you burn cheap/crappy media that's borderline at the time of burning, any errors will knock it over to "unusable".

Since recordable DVDs have only been around ~5 years, your guess is as good as any.

Of course, keep in mind, the odds of having a machine that can play back a standard DVD-R in 100 years is slim and none. Do you still have a gramophone?

"Pressed" silver DVDs are physically manfactured by stampers. DVD+-R media is organic dye. Very different technologies. Again, this stuff's been around for under a decade so no one knows WHAT realistic lifespans really are.

Is it advisable to use marking pen to write on top of a blank or
would the alcohol in the pen diffused into the dye and degrade it.
What is the consensus on this?

100 years into the future. Of course their DVD can hold about
1 billion gigabytes per side with holographic based entertainment.
But I think their diameter should still be the same size as the one
now. Too small and it can easily be stolen, shoplifted or lost.

I plan to store my pictures and videos like in time capture where
it won't be disturbed for many decades or centuries. Say. Does a
hard drive last much longer than a DVD. A hard drive doesn't use a
dye, does it. I think they can still produce some kind of IDE
emulator to read them in the future. Or Even Nanobots to go
inside the hard drive and read the information on the surface
directly.

Pegg

Hello,
I just like to know if you have red this thread which is I think
the best discussion about DVD longevity so far


Personaly I have saved some important stuff on Maxell 5x certified DVD-RAM's [media code MXL16]
which are not manufactured with an organic dye
but with BCM: Bismuth Coupling Material:
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/9764

You may alsos read following articles about DVD-RAM:
" Study says DVD-RAM provides safest bet for data storage "
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/9765
" Think twice before you write once "
http://www.storagesearch.com/pegasusart3.html

I will keep my DVD-RAM discs and compare them with my WORM recordings (on CD-R, DVD-R & DVD+R) in 10 years or so:
http://www.aplawrence.com/Reviews/dvdram.html

Too small and it can easily be stolen, shoplifted or lost.

there will be no physical need when you can simply download your entertainment...broadband in 100 years (if civilization survives that long) will be mindblowingly fast by today's standards...so much so that the concept of hard copies of entertainment will be obsolete (my prediction anyway).

Hard drives use magnets, not dye.