Archive Quality DVDs

I am always surprised when other people are surprised to hear that burned CDs and DVDs don't last very long [computerworld.com]. I mean, people have been burning CDs for a long time, so you would think that this problem would be more well-known. I have several disks that I burned only a few years ago that are now unreadable (which thankfully, contained nothing important).

I am on the paranoid end of the spectrum, as far as data backups. Anything that I have that is important is copied everywhere. I even go as far as to burn two copies of critical data onto archival-quality DVD-Rs -- one copy to keep at home, and another to keep in a safe-deposit box.

For the past few years, I have been using mam-a archival-quality DVDs [mam-a.com]. However, they have changed their product line around since I have bought media last, and I wasn't that happy with the past batch that I bought. So, I began looking for another brand.

I recently saw this weblog post [adterrasperaspera.com], which has a frighteningly long description of how CD-Rs and DVD-Rs are produced, and how archival-quality media differs. The post recommends a Japanese brand called Taiyo Yuden, which can be purchased at supermediastore.com. So, I'm going to give them a shot.

Back up your data properly, people!