Blank CD-R ...where/which best?

brianl703 · Mar 7, 2006

I have an old CD-R I burned about 8 years ago that's still readable. It was a Microcenter generic made by Verbatim (dark blue recording surface). They are no longer made, the current Verbatims have a light blue recording surface.

If you're concerned about readability, use 74-minute CD-Rs instead of 80 minute ones.

I've never had a single problem getting a 74 minute CD-R to play in any CD player, but some do not like the 80 minute ones.

I suspect also that 74 minute CD-Rs will be easier to read if deterioration DOES happen.

I burn important data to Mitsui 74 minute CD-Rs. I use the Moser Baer TDK 80 minute CD-Rs for "junk" I don't care about (they seem to be more likely to have soft errors than the Taiwanese-made TDK CD-Rs I bought previously).

Quattro Pete · Mar 7, 2006

I've got some CD-RW media (HP) burned 7 years ago as well - still reads fine.

Mystic · Mar 8, 2006

If you really want to make important stuff last you should check out the MAM-A and the eFilm CD-Rs and DVD-Rs. The MAM-A CD-Rs are supposed to potentially be able to last 300 years. Their DVD-Rs the last I heard had a possible useful life of 100 years (for some technical reason a gold layer could not be put, at least at that time, in the DVD-Rs).

ScottB · Mar 8, 2006

We lost some archives from the late 90's last year.
All of the disks were unreadable by Macs/PCs.
I have to go and see if I can dig one up to see what brand it was.
Scary thing is that they were stored in a nice, dark, cool room.

Scott

Pontius Pilate · Mar 8, 2006

haha, so much for the "150 years" of quality peace of mind.

Quattro Pete · Mar 8, 2006

97tbird, I know, but my new DVD burner hasn't reached me yet, and my current DVD drive (read-only) does not recognize +R media, so I can't check it just yet.

mechtech · Mar 8, 2006

I just read in Pop Mechanics [or was it Pop Science?] about CDRoms deteriorating very quickly, as the dye is subjected to heat or plain old age. They talked about a couple of years before problems occured. They said that magnetic tape was the best - 30 years plus.
If you need archival storage, be warned.

PandaBear · Mar 23, 2006

Best: Taiyo Yuden, Misubishi Chemical, both made in Japan

Good: CMC, RiData, etc, made in Taiwan

Ok: Prodisk, Samsung, etc, made in Korea

Junk: those made in Hong Kong, China, India stuff.

If you have a good drive, then it is not as picky about media quality (i.e NEC and LiteOn), if you have crappy drive (i.e. Hitachi / LG from DELL, Benq, etc) then you better buy good media from reputable source only.

PandaBear · Mar 23, 2006

quote:

There is no "best CD/DVD" media, per se.
Drives are made by a number of manufacturers, and those differences, along with the software used to burn, and the operating system of your computer all conspire to make it as difficult as possible.
Buy small batches of a few brands and test.
I use Macs and have good luck with Maxell, Verbatim, and Apple-branded.

Scott

Scott, thats because those are either Mitsubishi or Taiyo Yuden media, already the best. There are HUGE variation in quality between good and bad media. I had gotten one case of Hoten branded stuff from Fry's that I got 6/10 coaster rate.

sxg6 · Sep 17, 2006

Just picked up a 50 pack of verbatims because i thought they were still taiyo yudens.. apparently not. Nero says cmc magnetics. They're a gold color, and nero says phthalocyanine which i hear is supposed to be good..

Theyre replacing some maxell cd-r pro's i had which were taiyo yudens, they were cyanine azo with a blue tint..Worked great.

So i guess we'll see how these verbatims do

HardbodyLoyalist · Sep 17, 2006

My local Big Lots sells 50-packs of Hewlett Packard CDRs for $10. I've been using them very successfully for the past 6 months.

brianl703 · Sep 17, 2006

Verbatim makes two quality levels of CD-R..the "Datalife" ones should be blue.

Gurkha · Sep 17, 2006

Taio Yuden, Mitsibhishi/Verbatim Super Azo, TDK, Maxell and Moser Baer from India are among the best. For drives its Liteon China all the way.