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August 14, 2004
CDs aren't forever
Computer technology is fast approaching a stumbling block that has come back to haunt us. A growing number of recordable CD-ROMs, some recent, but most as old as 20 years, are not readable anymore.
Office files, letters, music and cherished photos are slowly eroding from optical disk mediums once touted to have a reliability of 50 years.
The culprit, say the experts, is Father Time, with a pinch of extreme temperatures, moisture and abusive handling.
Susan Munro, owner of Mehco Inc., an Edmonton-based CD and DVD replicating service, thinks different.
"Moisture gets in the edge of poorly sealed CD disks, and corrodes the thin foil that holds data," she said.
"If properly made, recordable CDs should last a long time."
Munro said most of her 10-year old CDs, even the more expensive gold foil ones, are not readable anymore.
Her experience underscores an alarming problem in technology... all digital recordable media like hard drives, camera memory chips, and optical CDs and DVDs can't hold a candle to the longevity of old fashioned paper and photographic film, microfilm, not to mention stone etchings several thousand years old.
It doesn't help that there are no standards in optical media making, where even brand name CDs have unknown lineage from overseas manufacturers.
Interest groups and government agencies like the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology are trying to set CD-ROM and DVD testing standards, a torture test if you will, stamping optical media with a seal of approval.
Munro applauds these efforts but thinks it is too little, too late. "All these efforts and money should not go into a mature 20-year old technology," she said.
"They should promote next generation storage devices that are not prone to oxidation and data loss."
Munro said the DVD technology, the successor to CD-ROM, has been held back by the industry due to a lack of one agreed standard and a willingness to stretch out older industry.
"The reality is that when the powers to be get going on DVD then you will see that technology accelerate much like CD-ROM did in the past ten years."
Today's recordable CD-ROMs spin up to 52 times faster that an audio CD, filling up with digital data in less than a minute. DVD's are just starting to go past four times now.
"DVD is excellent for movies but as a storage medium it has failed," said Munro. "It's as volatile as CD-ROMs."
She noted that all computer-based consumer optical media recorders write information on light-sensitive media, compared to the professional recorders that physically etch the digital information before the disc is sealed during manufacture.
The industry has countered growing concerns by making beefed up optical media. Fujifilm CD-R for Photo for example, features better sealing and extra layers of protective coating on the label side. Verbatim has released their Digital Movie DVD-R discs with similar features. Companies with a stake in computing, like Apple, decided to make optical media to a higher standard with their own label. "So what if you pay a little more for a life time of memories, it's worth it," said Munro.
What's in the future for storing our digital earthly possessions?
"FMD (Fluorescent Multi-layer Disc) shown in 2001, has 30 times the capacity of DVD," said Munro. "But the industry feels FMD stores more than most people need."
For now, most of us will have to settle for current cutting-edge technology that is fast losing its edge.
Posted by robeva at August 14, 2004 04:44 PM
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