Does information on DVD's fade?

You're far more likely to lose data from a hard drive than from a DVD/CD.

A DVD/CD stored correctly away from sunlight and direct heat will usually last at least 10 years, often longer.

A hard drive in regular daily use will eventually fail and crash, possibly leaving the data unrecoverable. 3-5 years is a good lifespan for a hard drive.

If you store all your important data on 1 hard drive without backups, you're sitting on a timebomb.

Light will degrade any recordable optical format. The key is to keep the media stored out of the light.

So I shouldn't worry too much about my DVD's and my CD's failing on me? And I shouldn't be so afraid of losing the info if I put them on it?...

Also... After your HD crashes, is there a way to fix it and get the data back? Or is there a way to replace it through the company without buying it? >_> Warranty?

If light degrades the memory of the cd and dvds and what not... Why do people put Neon lights in their computers?

KingofLodis said:

So I shouldn't worry too much about my DVD's and my CD's failing on me? And I shouldn't be so afraid of losing the info if I put them on it?...

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I wouldn't worry to much about losing info. Just keep them store in a dark place I usually keep mine in a drawer.

KingofLodis said:

Also... After your HD crashes, is there a way to fix it and get the data back? Or is there a way to replace it through the company without buying it? >_> Warranty?

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If the drive is physically broke, you can send it to a data recovery center like ontrack, however the price may outweigh the needs. I have a friend, that owns a company and they sent in a 2GB drive to recover the contents. It costed $1500.00.

KingofLodis said:

If light degrades the memory of the cd and dvds and what not... Why do people put Neon lights in their computers?

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The lights in the computer usually have little or no effect on optical media because the disk is usually stored away or in the drive.

Just to add my two cents...

The easiest way to keep CD's and DVD's in good condition is to keep them in their original cases or buy CD/DVD wallets to store them in. I keep all mine in either their original cases or CD wallets (which, I might add are much much easier and space saving for a dorm room!). I've got old dos games from 1995 and earlier that still work and are read in the CD drive, so it's actually fairly easy to take care of discs.

One thing that you could do, which I do with important things like family pictures, is to burn them twice. That way, if something does happen to one of the coppies, you still have the data on the other.

Ok, now I have another question about dvd's...

When I wrote on the front side (where the writing is) with permanent marker... The ink underneath where the burned stuff is... Got scratched or something weird happened to it... To the point of where it wouldn't play anymore... After the marker was written on it, it wouldn't play cause of the marking I made on the cd... ANy idea?

Actually there are markers specifically designed for CDs and DVDs. Most permanant markers are solvent-based and may contain anecdotal. This can lead to long term penetration of the ink to the data layer if you do not use disks with a protective coating.

So how can I tell if it has a protective coating or not?

Can you direct me to some of these specific cd and dvd markers? I've never heard of ones that are specifically designed for them...

I'm also wondering if I put one of those "labeling" stickers on the cd or dvd, if it will be put off balance or something, making it harder to read... (I've heard that from somewhere before that this is possible...)

Thanks for your help

I use the ones made by sharpie. http://www.swisherpens.com/catalog/sharpie/sharpie-cddvd-marker-pack.htm

So how can I tell if it has a protective coating or not?

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This I really couldn't tell you. I have had a few Memorex CD that the film on top (the layer that contains the data) was pealing off. I do find that labels will protect that layer a bit more because it prevents scratching it. I have never had any problems with the discs being "unbalanced".