Like most of you, whether it is a family photo album or precious family tree research, I back up, back up, back up. Now I'm going to add another feature to my back-ups - a date of purchase written right on the CD and an annual reminder on the calendar to check for reburning needs. Why? CD life is 2 to 5 years according to folks more knowledgeable than I..... From http://computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/storage/story/0,10801,107607,00.html "Unlike pressed original CDs, burned CDs have a relatively short life span of between two to five years, depending on the quality of the CD," Gerecke said in an interview this week. "There are a few things you can do to extend the life of a burned CD, like keeping the disc in a cool, dark space, but not a whole lot more." The problem is material degradation. Optical discs commonly used for burning, such as CD-R and CD-RW, have a recording surface consisting of a layer of dye that can be modified by heat to store data. The degradation process can result in the data "shifting" on the surface and thus becoming unreadable to the laser beam. "Many of the cheap burnable CDs available at discount stores have a life span of around two years," Gerecke said. "Some of the better-quality discs offer a longer life span, of a maximum of five years." Check out the website for the more complete article. (Thanks to source Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter) Cheerio Sue Visser

Hi there Sue I work in Data Management at an airline and this is my "game". If you can buy your self a DVD writer, do it - they are cheaper now. DVDs will last longer way longer than CDs. Secondly, keep your precious memories in a refrigerator (not freezer) and they will last much longer there than anywhere else, especially near a major heat source (your desktop) computer. VDs/CDs burned on a Mac machine will also last much longer. Cheers Allan >"Unlike pressed original CDs, burned CDs have a relatively short life span >of between two to five years, depending on the quality of the CD," Gerecke >said in an interview this week. "There are a few things you can do to extend >the life of a burned CD, like keeping the disc in a cool, dark space, but >not a whole lot more." > >The problem is material degradation. Optical discs commonly used for >burning, such as CD-R and CD-RW, have a recording surface consisting of a >layer of dye that can be modified by heat to store data. The degradation >process can result in the data "shifting" on the surface and thus becoming >unreadable to the laser beam. > >"Many of the cheap burnable CDs available at discount stores have a life >span of around two years," Gerecke said. "Some of the better-quality discs >offer a longer life span, of a maximum of five years." > >Check out the website for the more complete article. (Thanks to source >Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter) > >Cheerio >Sue Visser

Hi Sue, You might explore external hard drives. The costs are dropping fast - they are now runing about $1.00 per Gigabyte - $100 for a 100 gig external drive. Easy to install - just attach via your USB plug. As they are external they are portable. And they make it SO EASY to backup. They act just like your C drive. There are a number of companies are selling many storage sizes - - they can be found by exploring the web. Doug ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sue V" <genealgal2@execulink.com> To: <SCT-ISLAY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006 10:53 PM Subject: [SCT-ISLAY] life expectancy of your back-up files > Like most of you, whether it is a family photo album or precious family > tree > research, I back up, back up, back up. Now I'm going to add another > feature > to my back-ups - a date of purchase written right on the CD and an annual > reminder on the calendar to check for reburning needs. Why? CD life is 2 > to 5 years according to folks more knowledgeable than I..... > >>From > http://computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/storage/story/0,10801,107607,00.html > > "Unlike pressed original CDs, burned CDs have a relatively short life span > of between two to five years, depending on the quality of the CD," Gerecke > said in an interview this week. "There are a few things you can do to > extend > the life of a burned CD, like keeping the disc in a cool, dark space, but > not a whole lot more." > > The problem is material degradation. Optical discs commonly used for > burning, such as CD-R and CD-RW, have a recording surface consisting of a > layer of dye that can be modified by heat to store data. The degradation > process can result in the data "shifting" on the surface and thus becoming > unreadable to the laser beam. > > "Many of the cheap burnable CDs available at discount stores have a life > span of around two years," Gerecke said. "Some of the better-quality discs > offer a longer life span, of a maximum of five years." > > Check out the website for the more complete article. (Thanks to source > Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter) > > Cheerio > Sue Visser > > > > ==== SCT-ISLAY Mailing List ==== > To find Vital Statistics for islay from the earliest records to 1875 > visit: > HTTP://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~tlarson/bdm/ > >