Hi-MD Life Expectancy

[alcohol]

My first MD unit was a blue color Sharp MD-11 (circa 1994!). I must report all recordings made during that period are still alive & can be heard today!

They have lasted for almost ten years!

Meanwhile, I brought my first internal CD-burner in 1998. Over 65% of my first patch of home-made CDs are rotting to various degree from oxidation. ( I have lost some precious digital photos as result.)

What’s more, there is no way I can keep my data unless I re-burn my entire collection of CD. I have began that painful process of transferring them to DVD-R.

With the arrival of Hi-MD. I am determined to transfer my entire photo collection to Hi-MD.

(P.S. the CD with rot were made by Imation, & E-blue. A dark ring appears from the inner edge and eat towards to outside. Some have tiny black dots appearing in random. & NO, I did not get really cheap CDs, I always for the middle price range.)

I now use the most expensive DVD I could get. Those stamped in Japan only. By TDK or Pioneer.

So kudos to Sony MDs . . . they are a blessing.

[alieninhead]

See, that strange case comes in use for a reason. I've always liked that about MDs--they had something CDs/DVDs lacked, and at a smaller form factor too!

They did cover bit rot on home CDs/DVDs on the CNN website not too long ago.

So yes, what you're experiencing is definitely an issue. I've never hard trouble myself, my MP3 CDs in my car usually have a 6 month life span before I reburn new mixes because I've bought so much new music. :wacky:

~a.i.h.

[Christopher]

Kept in the right enviroment [non-erratic w/o random variables], a Hi-MD disc could last ten years before I'd advise copying that data to a better format [ten years from now Hi-MD will be an afterthought]. I would also suggest switching the data between discs once every five years, as well.

[crazeybt1]

that oxidation thing i thought it only happend to TDK discs..n those blank Discs with no name or maker..ne who..i got 1 MD from since "96 n truth is i really can't tell u y it's not damaged..is the material used to make it different in some way?or is that just cuz of the protective outer case....

just seeking some knowledge :smile:

[Spare Tire]

Well, for one thing i know MDs are magneto-optic discs unlike CD-Rs that are only optic. The write process is different, i guess the material is different too. But has anyone checked if they're CD-RW last as long as their MDs? Because CD-RW are magneto-optic too.

Oh and another thing, i think it's possible that an MD still plays even if part of it is damaged since it's an audio thing, the damaged parts make skips and stuff, but data cds screw up completly if some part of the data is lost.

EDIT: okay wait, so CD-RW is NOT magneto-optic?

[alieninhead]

All CD/DVD media is optical only. CD-RW discs have a special layer/coating on it that allow the laser to change the color of the pits over and over again.

CDs in general are alright for archiving at best; I know any CD-RWs I've ever used after re-writing over them about 10-15 times it was a gamble if I could do it again and have it still be readable.

You, in theory, could damage an MD's disc and have it still playable..I know in normal music/data CDs scratches can be passable (for skipping) as long as the part near the inner circle isn't damage that keeps the TOC.

~a.i.h.

[Leland]

In theory MO is much more durable than optical. The magnetic properties are locked in unless the media is heated with the laser, so at storage temperatures, it should last a long time. There is an article somewhere on the minidisc.org site that I seem to recall one theorist suggesting MO media could last 100 years or more.

[alieninhead]

Oh yeah, I have more faith in MO (or magnetic in general) storage than optical. Everyone says DVDs will last a long time..there are instances where professionally stamped CDs from the 80s are showing bit rot.

On the other hand, the hard drives in those old Apple's every elementary school has in their school still works after 25 years of constant use! :laugh:

~a.i.h.

[Damage]

Lesse, the Dye can fade from exposure to sunlight, making CD-Rs useless. The dye won't be exposed to the laser long enough to make a readable pit, making the CD-R useless. Crappy weathers will induce rot. But strong magnetic field won't kill your CD-Rs.

I've read from somewhere (mostly from MD.org I'd assume) that very strong magnetic field could definately ruin your MD.

But here in California Land (southern side) where its less humid than in the south, my CDs have been preserved fairly well. I have burnt CDs from 2000 that still gets read, pressed CDs from early 90s that's still functional. Humidity, I'd assume, has a lot to do with these rots we're seeing.

[Leland]

Strong magnetic fields will have NO effect on your MD's. That is unless they are heated to about 400 degrees. F or C, what's the difference?

[Qwakrz]

I read somewhere that MD's can be damaged by magnetoc fields but we must take it in context.

Magnetic fields found in the home will not damage a MD, Magnetic fields found in a lab that rip iron out of blood cells will damage MD's

The heating of the MD disc lowers the strength of field needed to flip the bits on the disc. While the disc is hot it takes a small magnet to flip them. When the disc is cold it takes a huge magnet to do it.

So basically an MD in a home environment is not suseptable to magnetic corruption, just be careful in a magnetics lab.

[MDGB2]

Don't know how true this is but I once read that MD as a re-writable format is much more stable than CD-RW because the grooves in the recording layer are permenant and new data is simply written into them.

CD-RW burns an entirly new recording layer evey time it is re-written, so becomes weak and corrupts.

Or something like that... :wacky:

[skyther]

No. The dyes used in CD-RW are amorpheous and will change when burnt (chemical reaction). It is not a new layer. It will lose it's chemical reactivity after a while.

I've destroyed data on a MD with a mildly strong magnet from my school's physics lab before. Tossed a magnet over it for a couple of seconds, chucked it back into the DS8 and it wouldn't play.

[The_Stamp]

thats not right... ove carried an md with a magnet before through school (to prove a point to my physics teacher ) then it played just as well as ever. this was a powerful magnet too. maybe the materials of your magnet has a super strong effect in a very short radius, strong rough to corrupt your data.

[tekdroid]

Isn't MiniDisc rated has having 1 million write/rewrite cycles? I'm assuming Hi-MD would be similar?

While DVD-RW/DVD+RW and CDRW around 1,000 (if you're lucky) ?

And DVD-RAM around 100,000 writes/rewrites.

I think that gives us some idea of the reliability of rewrites, even if they are manufacturer-quoted "way out of whack" figures.

For the record, I have CD-Rs since 1997 still kicking here, all stored in a Caselogic case. Rewritable formats like CDRW/DVD-RW I personally wouldn't trust to archive data to for anything other than short-term(ish) stuff...

[skyther]

It was strong, but just a normal ferrite magnet.

I dunno, I just stuck the magnet on top of the disc for not more than half a minute and it wouldn't read.