Disk rot. Something else to worry about.

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mikehalloran
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Disk rot. Something else to worry about.

Post by mikehalloran »

I've been debating whether or not, when and how to archive my CD collection. Then I read this:

http://tedium.co/2017/02/02/disc-rot-phenomenon/

I guess that I'll get to it this year. For me, a large WD Red HD ought to do it. I can use TwistedWave to convert my files to Apple Lossless. I would prefer FLAC (smaller file size) but that doesn't play back on iTunes.


TwistedWave's batch conversion is not intuitive but once learned, it's ridiculously simple and quick taking a few seconds to set up. Not available for Windows, unfortunately.
https://twistedwave.com/

It is sometimes sold at a deep discount at Cult of Mac and other online sources.
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Phil O
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Re: Disk rot. Something else to worry about.

Post by Phil O »

Oy. One more thing to worry about!
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MIDI Life Crisis
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Re: Disk rot. Something else to worry about.

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

I've seen this fairly often in discs that were created in the latter part of the 20th Century (boy that sounds weird!!!). And, I always used the highest quality discs available. Add to that the deterioration of my open reel tapes and the demise of those delicate DAT players and the argument for writing $hit down becomes more convincing... Ironically, cassette tapes seem to survive, and early recording techniques such as cylinder recordings, which, while susceptible to breakage, preserve data better than digital. This is also true in film. As long as nitrate film is stored in a cool dry place, it will outlast digital media. The Academy of Motion Pictures Archive has been saying this for years. Make a 35mm print! In 100 years it should still be playable if the machines are still around. Even digital parts of the original Star Wars are lost forever due to deterioration of the digital media used to store the footage.

Amazing!
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Re: Disk rot. Something else to worry about.

Post by HCMarkus »

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2933478/ ... years.html

Here's the Navy paper:
http://www.esystor.com/images/China_Lak ... Report.pdf

A French study can be contrasted, but it is noted the test temperature of 90C (194F), 5 degrees Celsius higher than the Navy test, appears to have pushed the M-Disc into unreliable territory:
http://www.lne.fr/publications/guides-d ... report.pdf

Unless you plan to store your archival discs in an oven, it appears the M-Disc is a reliable solution for long-term storage. I have burned a few 25gb discs to date with no coasters.

It does not appears that the Syylex disc referenced in the French test is readily available.
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Re: Disk rot. Something else to worry about.

Post by HCMarkus »

Along these lines...

https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/02 ... uter-chip/

Maybe slightly more extreme than we need to worry about.
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Re: Disk rot. Something else to worry about.

Post by mikehalloran »

In the late '90s, I bought special Kodak CD blanks that have a 100 year guarantee. Any wild guesses as to how many can be played back now? Yea, none. I never bothered to get them exchanged. Fortunately, there's little on them I can't find somewhere.

Some of my vinyl suffered termite damage a few years ago—it was in storage only 10 years. Except for those platters, all others play just as well now as they ever did.

I am surprised that the ZiP drive in my G4 can still read every one I ever made—surprising considering how many suffered the dreaded click of death. I can't say the same about my Iomega Jazz drive.

Perhaps this summer...
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Re: Disk rot. Something else to worry about.

Post by mikehalloran »

HCMarkus wrote:Along these lines...

https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/02 ... uter-chip/

Maybe slightly more extreme than we need to worry about.
I love it!

So... the next big leap won't be cloud storage but Venus computing?

"Backup to our servers on Venus. We built them to last!"

:koolaid:
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Re: Disk rot. Something else to worry about.

Post by HCMarkus »

mikehalloran wrote:
HCMarkus wrote:Along these lines...

https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/02 ... uter-chip/

Maybe slightly more extreme than we need to worry about.
I love it!

So... the next big leap won't be cloud storage but Venus computing?

"Backup to our servers on Venus. We built them to last!"

:koolaid:
:lol:

For true peace of mind, we may want to move our most cherished archives well beyond the farthest reaches of our solar system. :wink:

On a related philosophical note, the primary issue these days is probably not data retention. Absent quality curation, no one will ever have the time to find the gems buried in the endless desert of ones and zeros. Will anyone really care whether or not meaningless data is preserved forever?
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Re: Disk rot. Something else to worry about.

Post by Tobor »

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:I've seen this fairly often in discs that were created in the latter part of the 20th Century (boy that sounds weird!!!). And, I always used the highest quality discs available. Add to that the deterioration of my open reel tapes and the demise of those delicate DAT players and the argument for writing $hit down becomes more convincing... Ironically, cassette tapes seem to survive, and early recording techniques such as cylinder recordings, which, while susceptible to breakage, preserve data better than digital.
Well, Vinyl has made a huge comeback. Next up, the lowly Cassette Tape!
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Re: Disk rot. Something else to worry about.

Post by Tobor »

I actually plugged in a couple of my old Teac cassette decks not long ago to see if they still worked, and was reminded of the old bugaboo where tapes recorded on one machine may play back at a different speed on others.

Fortunately my most recent deck (although purchased quite a while ago now) has pitch control. My old bottle of pinch roller rubber rejuvenator has dried up though, fingers crossed when I try to perform that loooong overdue conversion project. But as this thread has raised, convert to what?

And who besides me, it must be said, would really care?
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Re: Disk rot. Something else to worry about.

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

EVERY open reel tape I made seems to have the glue problem and none will play. I have too many to start baking them, but I won't throw them away in case someone comes up with a brilliant solution and I can resurrect my early music. I'd hate to see it go, but I won't freak out about t it. THere's more than enough to go around... LOL
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Re: Disk rot. Something else to worry about.

Post by bayswater »

mikehalloran wrote:Some of my vinyl suffered termite damage a few years ago
Termites eat vinyl?
mikehalloran wrote:I am surprised that the ZiP drive in my G4 can still read every one I ever made—surprising considering how many suffered the dreaded click of death. I can't say the same about my Iomega Jazz drive.
Yes, I've got old Zip, Syquest etc drives from SCSI external drives with Artari MIDI files that have survived for almost 25 years. But maybe considering the ratio of the their physical size to capacity, it's not that surprising.
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Re: Disk rot. Something else to worry about.

Post by mikehalloran »

bayswater wrote:
mikehalloran wrote:Some of my vinyl suffered termite damage a few years ago
Termites eat vinyl?
They go after the cardboard and the excrement destroys the vinyl.
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Re: Disk rot. Something else to worry about.

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

mikehalloran wrote:
bayswater wrote:
mikehalloran wrote:Some of my vinyl suffered termite damage a few years ago
Termites eat vinyl?
They go after the cardboard and the excrement destroys the vinyl.
Oh, so they're actually producers!
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Disk rot. Something else to worry about.

Post by buzzsmith »

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:
mikehalloran wrote:
bayswater wrote: Termites eat vinyl?
They go after the cardboard and the excrement destroys the vinyl.

Oh, so they're actually producers!
That's funny!


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