Robustness of laptop vs desktop HDDs

[kb01]

When we prepare records for permanent curation, we go off guidelines that indicate that burned media has a lifespan of 10 - 25 years under perfect conditions (climate controlled federal and state archives). It's a big reason why paper reports, photographs, contact prints, and negatives are still used.

For my own storage, I just try to maximize redundancy with a local and off-site backups.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
A full century? I thought CD/DVDs had a shelf life of around 25 years.

I had read somewhere that burned CDs and burned DVDs had different shelf lives, something to do with their construction. I believe it was the DVD as lasting longer, but I don't recall how much. Of course, some companies sell "archival grade" media, in case that might make a difference.

 

[spk2000]

I have music cd's from about 35 years old that still get used regularly and play quite well so not sire if there is a difference in what they use or not.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
A full century? I thought CD/DVDs had a shelf life of around 25 years.

I had read somewhere that burned CDs and burned DVDs had different shelf lives, something to do with their construction. I believe it was the DVD as lasting longer, but I don't recall how much. Of course, some companies sell "archival grade" media, in case that might make a difference.


Like a lot of things, the substrates and dyes used to make optical media have been getting lower and lower in quality; and the race to eek out every cent of already-slim profit margins has led most manufacturers to do away with most quality control. The last time I did any research into expected life spans of consumer-grade optical media, 10 -12 years was a good bet.

The takeaway, though, is that there is wisdom in redundancy and wisdom in continuously transferring your data onto whatever media is contemporary to the times.

 

[Garak]

Yep, I've never paid a lot of attention to supposed "archival grade" media. I don't have a lot saved digitally that must be kept, and I just do rolling backups, anyhow, which ensures I'm not relying on 15 year old media.

@spk2000: Music CDs and other commercially produced discs are a little different than something one burns at home, from a durability standpoint, for sure. I have old ones that do quite well, too.