Woo! I’ve been promoting a search engine I wrote a while back on my resume. The last couple of days it’s occurred to me that I lost all of my Rainier Web files some time ago, maybe when I moved to C++ and C# or in the transition to Linux. If asked, I wasn’t going to have anything to show for it. Then tonight it occurred to me I have a stack of old CDs with backup archives going back to about ten years ago. On top of the stack, 2006, opened it and there it was, pysearch. I have some other old files to look for sometime, but not tonight. Back up and keep copies! I’m going back to CDs, there’s no way I could have gone that far back on a hard drive.
putting important things on the cloud like skydrive and google might also help
ofcourse these products may not be available 10 years down the line
I started a space.live.com blog but MS guys had shut it down 
Chief,
Thanks for the reminder! I have become A little to dependent on USB Flash drives & HDD’s. Going to get some DVD-R ASAP!
I hate that feeling of knowing you have/had something but “where is it?”…I can imagine your relief at finding it because I’ve been there. Well done.
Having paranoid OCD myself, I have the habit of saving everything, doing regular backups of OS and user space and moving media files, rpms, etc, to DVD’s. Yes, I am a packrat and the number of disks is staggering ( I have been doing this a long time). I won’t tell you a number (think thousands) because you probably would have me committed.
So, in addition to the optical backup, I catalog the contents of the disks for look-up (I am currently using GWhere) and that seems to suffice…at least I can usually find the where the data resides quickly then I have to go move a few boxes. But, I get that “eureka” moment and cackle all day about my evil genius.
I should torch my computer and get a library card.
On Tue, 05 Feb 2013 09:06:02 +0000, Sagemta wrote:
> Chief,
> Thanks for the reminder! I have become A little to dependent on USB
> Flash drives & HDD’s. Going to get some DVD-R ASAP!
Remember, though, that the dyes in burnable media can degrade over time -
so keep multiple copies or use something that lets you recover from
multiple copies.
I’ve got some old CD-Rs that I had done that with that have degraded to
the point of being unreadable at points of the disc.
Storage is also important - dry and dark is good. Sunlight affects
writable media. Regularly checking/replacing the backup also is a good
idea, using new media (not media purchased at the same time as the
original backup media).
I’ve got a few discs that I’ve got important stuff on that I store in a
fire safe under my desk. Probably time to take my own advice and refresh
the media, too. 
Jim
–
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C
I’ve got some old CD-Rs that I had done that with that have degraded to
the point of being unreadable at points of the disc.
This happened to me but it was only music and nothing really important or work related. I had 40 GB music and then 10 GB photos backed up around 2006 and when I tried to retrieve the contents in 2009 it could not be read. I got the DVD free with the burner from an online retailer, my guess is they were old or when I bought them or when they were burned there was some problem. Anyway I only lost a couple gigs of Music and some photos because I had a couple more backups on Hard drives.
Did you burn them at 4x or 8 x. It seems the lower burn rate do aid in prolonging life of data on the disk.
Not really a confirmation, just similar experiences. I have learned thru trial and error that less than max on burn rate, making sure there is low additional I/O on the source device and using the verify feature of the burn software makes a big difference… along with high quality blank disks. I used to use Taiyo, TDK, and Maxell write-once disks, but dropped Maxell’s due to burn failures. Plextor disks are probably the most dye-stable and therefore logically the most likely to last the longest… but expensive. my 2 cents.
I have seen white patches on my old disks sometimes. Probably fungus. probably we should keep the media in moisture /air tight containers
On 2013-02-06 04:16, vazhavandan wrote:
> I have seen white patches on my old disks sometimes. Probably fungus.
> probably we should keep the media in moisture /air tight containers
Nitrogen atmosphere would be better.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)
Carlos E. R. wrote:
> On 2013-02-06 04:16, vazhavandan wrote:
>
>> I have seen white patches on my old disks sometimes. Probably fungus.
>> probably we should keep the media in moisture /air tight containers
>
> Nitrogen atmosphere would be better.
>
For home use, those sealing vacuum units work pretty well with minimal
investment in apparatus. Only issue I see with them is that they are
subject to puncture leaks unless you are carefull with the storage space. I
use light proof plastic bags, especially with cd/dvd discs.
–
Will Honea
light-resistant plastic bags? made by who? great reply, btw!
my archive disks go back on the 100disk spindle w/cover (which came with purchase), then 1gal plastic ziplock bags (squeeze the air out before sealing), then into a box… to switch to a light-resistant bag even though the box is light protection would be a good idea.
Will light affect cds and dvds ? never knew that!>:(
vazhavandan wrote:
>
> Will light affect cds and dvds ? never knew that!>:(
I have a big box of anti-static plactic sleeves from a project several years
back so I simply tried the one and it worked. The gadget I use was one the
kids gave me that I never did get around to using for frozen food storage.
It has a small pump that evacuates the bag and a heat strip that seals/cuts
the bag. Makes it one-time use but it’s handy.
Well, a simple test for light sensitivity: Put one on the dash of the car in
full sunlight on the dye side. The DV-R and DV-RW’s I have will typically
be unreadable after only one day of that. The write mechanism is a laser
light, after all.
–
Will Honea
On Tue, 05 Feb 2013 19:36:01 +0000, vazhavandan wrote:
> Did you burn them at 4x or 8 x. It seems the lower burn rate do aid in
> prolonging life of data on the disk.
Well, only kinda - it doesn’t change the lifespan of the dyes used in
writable media. The problem can be exacerbated by slightly out-of-
alignment data tracks (which AIUI is the “issue” with higher burn rates),
but the physical characteristics of the dyes aren’t affected by the burn
rate. They still degrade at the same rate.
Jim
–
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C
I would believe that the degradation would be more due to heat rather than light in this case
hot-in-the-car
vazhavandan wrote:
>
> Will Honea;2525624 Wrote:
>> vazhavandan wrote:
>>
>> >
>> > Will light affect cds and dvds ? never knew that!>:(
>> Well, a simple test for light sensitivity: Put one on the dash of the
>> car in
>> full sunlight on the dye side.
>> –
>> Will Honea
>
> I would believe that the degradation would be more due to heat rather
> than light in this case
> ‘hot-in-the-car’
> (http://www.nebraskaweatherphotos.org/hot-in-the-car.html)
That could true. The “test cases” came from having my wife transport some
discs for me. She chose to throw them on the dash…
–
Will Honea
I used cd r/w as my back up files before yet after years my computer can’t read what’s inside my cd. So, I’ve decided to use external hard drive for my back up copy.