Digital BW, The Print

Glad to hear you mention gold CD's, but I haven't had trouble locating them. I got them on-line, sorry I don't have that source handy right now. I also use gold DVD's for backing up valuable videotapes.

When I submitted photos to the National Register, they specify they want the files on a gold CD.

All that said, I'm sure they're not perfect either. Another issue is how long will we have CD drives around? I had some valuable files on a 5 1/4" floppy and had trouble finding someone with a working drive. Now it's my understanding computers don't come with 3 1/2" drives and not even CD drives. 

Are solid drives the next wave? By that I mean large capacity flash drives... seems I've heard that somewhere. But even then, what new format files will be on the horizon... something other than jpg or even tiff?

As the line from "Fiddler on the Roof" goes, "asking questions that would cross a rabbi's eyes"!

On the other hand I have some valuable family photos on box camera  negatives, from 620 or even 116 film. And I can still use them by scanning them... I should think some way to read physical negatives will always be around.

Paul

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "ben" <benjschneider2@...> wrote:
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> 
> This was a topic I looked into years ago.  Then, I learned that all CDs were not equal.  That the gold CDs were better in archiving data.  But it has become hard to find the gold ones.  
> 
> I also learned that it is better to write a CD slowly.  That fast writing does not make as good an image on the CD which fading will ruin quicker.   That slow writing will make a more distinctive image, and be read longer.
> 
> I also learned not to write on a CD!  At least on the silvered, or gold part.  That most pens have ink that can damage the image on the CD.  There is only a thin layer of lacquer protecting the silver or gold on the CD.  That lacquer can be damaged by the pens ink.  I only write on the hub, clear part,  of the CD.
> 
> I also sleeve, or case all my CDs and DVDs.  I am also careful to handle them only by the edges, or center, never touching the image area.
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> I too keep the CDs, and DVDs in a cool dry, dark place.  CDs are written by light, so why couldn't they be damaged by light?  Common sense?
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> I just dug out some CDs written in 2003 to reprint some images.  Even though these were on silver CDs, I had no problem reading them.  I have recently opened CDs I wrote in the 1990s and they worked.  Are you that had CD failures taking these precautions?
> 
> Ben
>