Remember when you used to make mix tapes? Then you got a CD burner and you could burn CD’s. That was really cool, right? You moved on, and now you share Spotify channels, but you might still have a bunch of old burned media, stuff you like or that has sentimental value. Maybe it came from an old boyfriend or girlfriend. Maybe it’s best that you not remember where that media came from, since we all did a lot of semi-legal sharing back then.
What about all those old data backups, those pictures and videos from days gone by? Chances are you put them on a CD or DVD thinking they’d last forever. Unfortunately that’s not the case. You might pick up one of those data backups and find the information’s gone for good. Burned optical media just doesn’t live forever.
I ran into this very issue not long ago with CDs that were made back in the early 2000s. There were literally thousands of family pictures on several CDs that I’d consider priceless. I found out that those CDs didn’t survive but I was one of the lucky ones. About 7 years ago I’d moved those pictures to a cloud service that gets regularly backed up. If I hadn’t, I would have lost them.
Will your data survive?
How long does data live on old burned media? It really depends. The dye layer (which is the part that gets burned) may only last 3-4 years if left out in an area that gets a lot of sun. Humid areas of the country may see “CD rot” more than drier areas. All forms of media do best in humidity and temperature-controlled environments, which is why studios keep their original film masters in vaults. You probably don’t have the time or resources to do what they do, so you’ll have to do the next best thing.
Now’s the time to look at that old physical media. Seriously, at this point you should consider all of it at risk. I mean, most of us stopped burning discs ten years ago or so, meaning all that stuff should be archived. Choose a cloud service you like from a company you trust (such as Microsoft, Google, Apple, or whatnot) and put it there. It’s also not a bad idea to buy a portable solid state drive and make a copy there. From what we can see today, solid state drives can last 10-20 years. That may not actually be true but we have no way of knowing that right now.
How important is it anyway?
It’s a real shame to lose some good music (assuming you didn’t actually buy it in the first place 
) but it’s far more of a shame to lose data. There’s an old article at savecrazy, no longer live but archived over at archive.org, that talks about this, and even though the words are probably about 15 years old at this point, the message is still worth reading. After all, you probably moved on from physical discs quite a few years ago and it’s time to take a good look at what you’ve still got and make sure it’s all readable. Like the artcile at savecrazy, it may still be some good stuff. Unlike that article though, if you haven’t made a personal backup you’ve probably lost it.
This article is brought to you by Solid Signal. Like your burned media, we’ve been around a long time. Unlike your burned media, we’re here for the long term. Call us at 888-233-7563 to activate new service or for any tech questions you have. If it’s after hours, fill out the form below.
