New optical disc tech could make $5 per TB possible

[Hodor]

But not true. I have CDs that are 20+ years old and still work. It comes down to the quality of the manufacturer's product, much like any other product or service you would spend money on.

I always store my optical media in plastic boxes, spindles or envelopes, at room temperature, usually in cabinets or drawers. But if you use them frequently they accumulate scratches and stop working. Only if you don't really use them, if they are used for one-time backup and properly stored, will they last. But you can say the same for USB sticks too.

I have a few floppy disks that still (probably) function simply because they were stored in a box for the last NN years (for sentimental purposes). That doesn't mean floppy disks are reliable.

 

[money]

The key word is 'could'

 

[trents]

So this is not magnetic read write technology as is used on conventional hard drives? It's optical but enclosed and fixed storage and not removeable? Correct? I wish the article had fleshed that out better. I'm used to thinking of optical as removable disks that you can insert into the drive itself.

 

[wcpreston]

M-Disc will have harsh competition by Archival Disc - AD which suppose to offer longevity at a lower cost per TB.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_Disc

"Harsh competition." It's a $10K drive, and a cartridge is hundreds of dollars. It's like saying a porsche will give bikes stiff competition.

 

[Fastturtle]

It always takes awhile to go from the lab to production. Plus some never make it that far, what works in the lab sometimes will not make it to production.

Also if you are not backing up at least your important files offsite you are leaving yourself open to having a really bad day. I had a house fire a few years ago and the only thing that saved me was my off site backups.

Nothing gets you going like a smoke alarm going off at 3:30 in the morning.

And it's the reason I put together a Disaster Recovery Wish List for hardware. Turns out our Homeowners insurance covers our main computers, Everyone in the house has one plus a our phones/tablets. So All I needed to add was an off-site backup solution (Backblaze for us) and if the house burns down, well, I wont loose much in the way of critical data. Games might be gone but between GoG and Nintendo for the younger folks, we're fully covered.

 

[Fastturtle]

I always store my optical media in plastic boxes, spindles or envelopes, at room temperature, usually in cabinets or drawers. But if you use them frequently they accumulate scratches and stop working. Only if you don't really use them, if they are used for one-time backup and properly stored, will they last. But you can say the same for USB sticks too.

I have a few floppy disks that still (probably) function simply because they were stored in a box for the last NN years (for sentimental purposes). That doesn't mean floppy disks are reliable.

Nope on the USB Sticks as they only hold the charge for a maximum of 10 years for the smaller ones. If it's TLC/QLC it's only good for about 5 years before bit rot sets in. Even Optical Media isn't good for more then 10 years due to dye failures and bit rot. 1st Gen writable CD's used a high quality dye that can still be read 25 years later and I know this as I have many from 1995 when I bought my first CDR drive. You also need to store them not only in a dark but a temperature controlled environment as heat and UV are the two dangers to loss of data on Optical Media.