General lifespan on a quality DVD-R

[dbminter]

I finally have some empirical evidence of just how long a quality DVD-R will last.  I came across a PrimeDisc DVD-R I recorded on 2002-07-11.  The MID is RITEKG03.  This disc was still readable, a single VIDEO_TS from a Panasonic DVD Video recorder, into a new Build job ISO and creating.  The disc passed a read of its contents in DVDShrink as well.  So, a good 18 to 19 years has passed thus far.  It's not too far fetched to say a quality DVD-R will last 20 years at least.  And PrimeDisc wasn't exactly a household name.  Although they apparently made a quality disc 18 plus years ago, farming out to Ritek.  Ritek is a known quantity and I've found their discs are good 2nd tier quality material, although in places outside of North America, Ritek media seems to be pretty bad.  So, it appears to be a quality disc, and a known quality manufacturer like Taiyo Yuden or Mitsubishi would probably last just as long and, most likely, longer.

[ThaCrip]

On 4/22/2021 at 3:53 PM, dbminter said:

It's not too far fetched to say a quality DVD-R will last 20 years at least

 

Yeah, I don't think it's far fetched at all and is likely at least plausible, if not outright true to last 20+ years on quality DVD recordable media. because while I get no brand is "bullet-proof", I am willing to bet a high percentage of the good brand discs are built to last at least 20+ years for a conservative estimate given what we now know with the passage of time

but you can see some people online (like comments from years ago etc) seem to think DVD recordable won't last (like won't last more than 5 years or so etc) but that's only if your using so-so media as if you stick with the known good brands like Verbatim/TY (Taiyo Yuden) I like my chances of those lasting 20+ years at least and could potentially be well over that. but my best guesstimate is if a disc can last 10-15 years and still read back well on a drive (as if the drive can read it easily, like with no slow down, chances are the disc is still going strong) and give a good disc quality check with KProbe etc, it will probably last for the foreseeable future.

I have many Verbatim recordable DVD's around 10-13+ years now (I never got into DVD burning until I think it was 2005 and CD burning I first got into in 1998), and while I have not rechecked all of them, I recently scanned a couple random ones with KProbe. in short, given the scan info with PI/PIF's the discs will likely last for the foreseeable future if they have lasted this long. so I figure unless I am way off, like say if it's possible for a disc to remain reliable for 10-15 years or so and then shortly after suddenly start declining rapidly, which I don't think will happen with a disc that lasts that long as it will likely be a slow degradation of the data, then ill safely get at least another 10+ years out of them.

but recently I tried to image some generic CD-R's with ImgBurn as a few I burned in Sep 2002 and a re-burned that general set onto another generic different brand of disc sometime in 2004 and basically 2 out of the 3 were okay on original 2002 burn, but one disc was shot (I tried reading it in multiple burners I have and basically same results) and it was a three disc set. so I pitched it in the trash. but I already had the data backed up elsewhere so no real harm done.

but I think sadly, not many care about DVD's anymore and probably don't even consider it as a solid storage medium for long term data backup which I personally trust it more than what most are probably using which is flash media storage like SD memory cards and the like. because while SD memory cards and the like are nice and convenient, I don't trust them for storing data 10-20+ years like I do with quality DVD media. but being it's not really practical to burn a ton of data to DVD these days, especially given hard drive space is cheap enough now and has been for quite a few years, I can understand why many just opt for hard drives since they are the best all-around option for general data backup. but it's still nice to have quality DVD media around on that occasion you got a bit more limited higher importance data you want backed up like family pictures and videos as a bonus with DVD media one does not have to worry about accidental data deletion etc.

side note... I think it was RITEK G05 that were horrible and failed quickly if I recall correctly. but thankfully I never had any of these.

also, I see you mentioned 'Mitsubishi' which makes me even more confident those very recently purchased (here in March 2022) new old stock of Verbatim CD-RW 700MB 2-4x rated discs (2005 date on back of box) I got will last for more limited amount of data backup I might use those for that I might update from time-to-time as it lists that name and even some new old stock of Verbatim DVD+RW 2.4x 4.7GB discs I bought in March 2019 but have a '2002' date on the jewel cases seem to be from them to with the "MCC-A01-00" media code.

the only 4.7GB recordable DVD media I still have that I can burn are Verbatim (which I bought the 100-pack in Jan 2014 of which I still probably got around 80-90 of these left) and some Taiyo Yuden (TYG02 media code, which are 8x discs) which I probably got roughly 75 of those left, which I almost certainly bought in the late 2000's (2007 at the latest given a date on one of the disc I just noticed a moment ago, which basically means they got to be bought somewhere in the 2005-2007 time frame) since I first got into DVD burning in 2005 (which I still have my original DVD burner, which is a Lite-On 1673s as it's installed in my backup computer). I got a little more beyond these, but those are the only ones I will count on lasting. then I got some CD-RW and DVD+RW Verbatim media which I use a bit for testing here and there and for a limited amount of storage where data is more likely to change and need to be updated from time-to-time.

hell, here is a KProbe scan (using my Liteon iHAS324B drive on Linux Mint v20.3-Xfce using Wine v4.0.4 x86(32bit) through PlayOnLinux) I just did on a Taiyo Yuden DVD-R 8x (TYG02) disc burned Nov 29th 2007 (so it's 14+ years old now) at what was likely burned at 8x or 12x (my guess is probably 12x and disc is basically full to. but nowadays I am in no rush as if I burn some more of these TYG02 discs, ill probably stick to 8x from now on as it may increase quality of burn slightly etc) and had to be burned on a Liteon 1673s (this burner is still connected in my backup computer) given I never bought another DVD burner until the Sony 7240s, which is likely 2009-2010, and as you can see, while not 'perfect' (seems it's preferred to keep PIF spikes to 3 or less and I hit 4 briefly and even in regards to the BLUE PI's, which are not as important as the RED PIF's, from what I noticed from memory in the old days around 10 spikes and less are about as good as your going to get and I am generally in that ball park with some exceptions), is still pretty strong overall as this disc will likely last 20+ years easy (i.e. so at least another 6+ years from now) and I would not be surprised if it goes well beyond that...

Edited March 28, 2022 by ThaCrip