Optical discs are not the most durable tools for storing digital content. Kurt Gerecke, a physics expert at IBM in Germany, advises that if consumers want to avoid having to copy CDs every few years, they should choose magnetic tape instead.
“Unlike original CDs that have excellent content compression, many cheap recordable CDs sold in stores today have a lifespan of only 2 years. Some higher-quality types may last up to 5 years,” Gerecke stated. “Storing discs in low-light, cool areas is a good preservation method, but it doesn’t significantly help extend the lifespan of contents like photos, videos, or music stored on discs.”
The main cause of the problem is the “aging” of the materials used in discs. The surface of commonly used recordable discs like CD-R and CD-W contains a layer of material that can be altered by heat (hence the term “burn”) to store data. The degradation of this material can lead to data “jumps” on the surface, making it impossible for the laser to read the information.
According to Gerecke, distinguishing between high-quality recordable discs and low-quality ones is also challenging because very few suppliers mention durability criteria when releasing their products.
To overcome the limitations of recordable CDs, Gerecke suggests using magnetic tape, as this medium has a lifespan of 30 to 100 years, depending on quality: “Even considering material degradation, they remain superior storage tools.”
However, the IBM expert also emphasizes that no storage device lasts forever. Therefore, consumers and businesses need to plan for transitioning to new storage technologies. “Companies need to continuously pay attention to more advanced storage techniques and have strategies that allow them to seamlessly transition to new technologies, especially those that are preserving large volumes of important data,” Gerecke recommends.
Gerecke notes that discs within hard drives also have similar limitations to CDs. The issue lies not with the hard disk itself, but with its positioning cushion. If a hard drive uses a cheap disc cushion, that cushion will wear out faster than those in more expensive discs, resulting in compromised data integrity.
