I read with interest the recent message about reading older CDs because
I have CDs stored on spindles, copies of users's backups. Recently I
have been working on comprehensible instructions for using X-CD-Roast to
write CDs and DVDs under Linux. I wanted to learn more about
thedifferent media and how to store the disks. In the process I found
these websites:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=15800263
http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq.html
http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html
From the Information Week article:
" I did discover bad CDs, but not one--zero--was traceable to a specific
brand or dye type. Instead, for me, the only disks that failed were
those that I had covered with a glue-on paper label from a
print-it-yourself CD label-maker kit. Several of these labeled CDs were,
in fact, totally unreadable by every means I tried (including special
data-recovery software); all the data on those CDs is just plain gone.
My best guess is the glue on these do-it-yourself labels interacted with
either the foil or the dye, rendering the CDs useless."
You need to read the article all the way through to get to an item which
one of my colleagues made special note of - be good to the TOP of the
media. It is not enough to use a water based marking pen. You should
also take care not to scratch or mar the top of the media as well as the
bottom.
The DVD website is useful if you ever wondered what the difference was
between DVD-R and DVD+R.
I recently bought some DVD+Rs. They were not a problem on my Dell box
using Nero or on my personal Linux box with a Sony writer. I found
that the DVD+Rs were a problem on Linux boxes with new Pioneer CD/DVD
writers. The media were writable only with growisofs. This is a
cautionary note because what works on one writer may not work on another.
Regards,
Sara Kunz
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Sara Kunz Phone: 781-736-2840
Brandeis University Fax: 781-736-2516
PO Box 9110 MS 015 Cell: 617-512-0435
Waltham, MA 02454-9110 Email: kunz_at_brandeis.edu
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Received on Mon Dec 06 2004 - 18:19:09 MST