Windows 7 1,000 year DVDs?

[Fixer1234]

According to this article, standard CDs and DVDs have a life of only 3 to 5 years. I had been under the impression that they last decades. If the short life is true, we all need a system to copy disks every few years.

The focus of the article, though is a new medium (M-DISKs, optical disks with a mineral layer instead of a dye layer, runs about $2/disk), which will supposedly last 1,000 years. They require an optical drive with a more powerful laser, but the drives are inexpensive, similar to regular drives. It sounds like it is not yet very widely available.

http://askbobrankin.com/will_your_files_last_a_thousand_years.html?pcp

 

[Pauli]

I've understood that the lifespan of a CD or DVD is about 100 years, perhaps more. But anyway, the problem with rotating discs is that they are mechanically worn out, as a 52x CD has a speed of more than 200km/h in its outer end - the reason they can't raise the speed is that the disc will crack due to gravitational issues = the centrifugal force will tear the disc in peaces, causing not only the disc to fall in atoms or pieces, but creating a great hazard for the computer > fragments at high speed entering the computer + fragments flying out from there, possibly hitting nearby persons. The "firepower" is not far from assault guns, and the shrapnel is way far sharper.

This is why you should never use a disc that has been cracked in the middle - it's dangerous.

Already during Windows 98 they introduced a non-moving-non-rotating save method, it was, if I recall correctly, 5x5cm size, with a 2x2cm (or something) size chip, inside two 5x5cm glass plates, capacity 80Gb, and guess what: it didn't move at all!

Probably a predecessor to SSD?

The less we move, the more we have peace of physical issues. In fact, the UFO mystery is very much built on anti gravitation. Get rid of gravity?

 

[pnamajck]

fact of the matter is … there is no truly 'permanent' storage available on the market. several years ago, i bought a new factory dvd called "final fantasy: the spirits within". within four or five years, the disk would stall … necessitating me to 'forward' it a dozen or so frames … and recommencing the movie from that point.

regarding cd/dvd formats … a month or so ago i heard, from a reputable source, even the 'heads-of-tech' creating media for marketing purposes cannot guarantee one-year duration from fifty-year duration … super-clean room fabrication would be outta' the commoner's budget … or some such hoopla. even then, as member pauli illustrated, we got nature's forces to contend with.

since humanity creates … nothing ever will be, assured of or, dependably absolute.

hence, my veritable opinion would be as follows :

• purchase a secondary storage unit of 2tb or so.
• fill that storage only 30% full.
• once every year, re-write the data to the blank space on that drive
• utilize verification/validation software which compares data copied with previous.

why only 30% full? 30% for the principle files … 30% for the files-copied allocation … 30% for the swap-file allocation … remaining 10% for defragmenting and possible future surface-damage.

as to a mineral-layer … i wouldn't place much trust in that tech. perhaps one day in the future they will have permanent storage that does not require mechanical intervention … likely we all hope this to be so.

anti-gravity and time-travel … definitely within our grasp … but only when governments collapse.