What Archival CD/DVD Media to Use?

I’m sure almost all of us make backups to CD or DVD – if you don’t you should! And I’m guessing almost all of you hope that data will still be there when you go back to it. If so, you’ll probably appreciate this good blog post on the topic. While it is informative, it is very detailed and technical, so I decided to summarise it, and then write a 4-point summary of the summary for the really really busy people…

Summary:

• Use CD-R or DVD+R, but not DVD-R.
• Use Taiyo Yuden media if possible, which can be sold as TDK or Verbatim brands – see links for genuine sources and a trusted store.
• If you can’t find Taiyo Yuden media, use Verbatim.
• Keep all media out of direct sunlight, in a nice cool dry dark place, in acid-free plastic containers – this will triple the lifetime of any media.

General Guidelines:

• RW Media of any description is not reccommended.
• Only buy media made in Japan or Taiwan. Especially not India (can loose its seal and oxidise).
• CD-R is ok, if you use a good brand (see below).
• DVD-R is not good (the author goes as far as saying it “sucks”) for 3 reasons – inferior error correction, inferior ‘wobble’ tracking, and the fact its data writing methods look like an un-needed halfway point between CD-R and DVD+R.
• DVD+R fixes these 3 problems and also has better power control settings and gives four times more scratch space.
• So DVD+R very strongly reccommended.
• Brand makes a significant difference. The author a dozen different brands and the only ones that have had a 100% success rate is Taiyo Yuden (TY).
• After TY, the next best is Verbatim. Usually, after choosing brand (Verbatim), type (DVD+R) and possibly quantity (e.g. 50-pack), you will only have one choice. If you do have a choice, there are resources available to make that choice an informed one. Verbatim uses various manufacturers and  techniques, so results vary. Links at the bottom of this post may help by collecting user reviews of the different variants.

Where to get Taiyo Yuden Media:

• Can buy TY brand as TY in Japan. In other countries, popular brands such as TDK and Verbatim carry TY media, however not all TDK and Verbatim is TY – the non-TY media is not as reliable.
• See the Taiyo Yuden FAQ by the CD Freaks Forum for a listing of TY media under different brands AND what is fake TY.
• You can also get genuine TY media at SuperMediaStore.com – the only company the author has found that guarantees that their media is actually from Taiyo Yuden and not a fake.

Media Lifetime:

• Unlike ‘pressed’ media, no ‘burnt’ media will last forever.
• The article mentions that good quality CD media (or at least the dye) is stable for at least 70 years. But cannot say for DVD media because the dyes are secret. However it does say that DVDs use similar dyes.
• For the technically minded, five main things effect the quality/lifetime of ‘burnt’ media: Sealing method, reflective layer, organic dye makeup, where it was manufactured, and your storage practices. However, in this article, with DVD, we can’t get much more information – sealing method is fine with Japan and Taiwan manufacturers, this also speaks to the country of manufacture, the dyes used are kept secret, the reflective materials are almost exclusively silver and aluminum alloys which produce similar end results (there are only a couple of gold layer options, which are only of comparable quality to TY and more expensive) and storage practices.
• Keep all media out of direct sunlight, in a nice cool dry dark place, in acid-free plastic containers – this will triple the lifetime of any media.

Finding Good Quality Media:

• www.cdfreaks.com/media – gives a list of tested media, some basic facts and votes/popularity in the CDFreaks community. When faced with many similar choices (even within Verbatim) this can help.
• www.videohelp.com/dvdmedia – a large database of media for sale, searchable by many things, including UPC/ EAN code (i.e. barcode) which some online retailers list so you can buy with more confidence online. Many user reviews so you know how well the media has worked for other people.