[ARRL-OK] FW: CD's are NOT forever--FYI

[Jim Reimer]

> Extending the Life of Data on CDs

>    When they first made their debut, data was thought to be safe
>    on CDs for at least 10 years, and with some premium rewriteable
>    CDs possibly for as long as a century. Such optimism was not
>    justified, however, and it has been reported by Consumer Reports
>    that some cheapie CDs may fail in as little as two years. Eek!

OSTA ( http://www.osta.org ) still says CDRs are good for somewhere
in the 50 to 200 year range (if you stay away from the problem labels,
take care of the disks, etc.).

See http://www.osta.org/technology/cdqa13.htm

>  1. Make at least two copies of CDs that contain VID (very
>     important data).

And put that second copy in a safe-deposit box.  Having two copies
doesn't do any good if they're sitting on the same shelf and the
house burns down or is blown away by a tornado.

-jdr-