How long can DVD+R endure?

i have heard that a cd-r can endure exactly only 2 or 3 years at most,that is under the condition of a dry and cool place without direct shine of light.

Mm,such a condition ,and the disc is so short lived. i have some videos ,all from the internet, the postgraduate lessons videos,over 200GB,and i want a very safe and steady plan to bakup these videos,can i use DVD+R? or i should use MO or other products?please give me a help,thanks………………

thanks for your reply.
i have tried to find some good brands aready,but now the japanese manufactures all exited the market of normal dvd discs ,they ran to the blue-ray or hd-dvd disc for more profit.And now actually the dvdr discs you can find mostly made in Taiwan.
honestly to say, their dvdrs are alse of good quality,but still not better than Japanese brands such as Taiya Yuden, or Mitsubishi(Vertbium).

so , i want to know where i can find the information of testing and evaluation , where can i find them ?

thanks again.

Actually, i heard (from a reputable source) that putting CDs in a freezer can actually help "reform" the silicon where it's been scratched. I tried it, didn't work, but certainly didn't harm it.

anyway, @maz, where are ye in the world?
newegg has these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817130009

i dunno much about brands these days, but verbatim used to be the shiznit for quality circa 1985-2000

Not sure but my CD-R's ahve lasted years beyond what you heard... I did hear something about them degrading after 10 Years or so though. DVD's are probably around that range also if stored properly. Do not use sharpie markers etc as the ink can eat away at the disc over time...

Although with current flash prices perhaps the best bet for something you want to be sure you don't use is a flash drive (although this may not make sense cost wise depending on how much data youa re talking about. For $15 a GB it may be worth the peace of mind if you only need one or two.

I too have heard that DVD-R (or +R) only last a few years - you can do a Google search on DVD+R lifetime and come up with both pros and cons . The only hard data I found (after my attention span of ~2 minutes expired ) was at More than 100 years projected lifetime for DVD-R media. I believe -R and +R use the same organic dyes (the part that is most likely to degrade) so they should have similar lifetimes if you believe that article by the manufacturer.

On the other hand, I have some copied movies from about 3 years ago, and some of them have problems being read on a standalone player. My DVD writer can still read them however...

Personally I'd like to see some sort of cheap, multi-terabyte online storage system with auto-error-checking & correction, able to store 2000+ complete HDDVD movies, networked to play back to multiple HD TV's simultaneously at 1080p, selection software complete with reviews and searchable as to title, year, cast, etc and with short samples or snippets. Then I'd never have to leave my sofa except for beer, pretzels and bathroom breaks

As some have stated, it can largely depend on a number of factors - environment, dye, burning process, etc etc etc.

I have CDs that are 7 years old now and they work fine. I have CDs that are 3 months old that don't.

One factor that I've found is the quality of the media you're buying. I tend to avoid imation, office store brands, and anything that is horrendously cheap and a lesser known brand.
The brands I can recommend are verbatim and tdk. sony's and hp's are alright, but i usually opt for verbatim or tdk. Especially verbatim for dual layers. I've probably run through 150 DVD's (+ and -). imations had alot of burning issues and longevity issues. i've never had a problem with verbatims and thats with about 80+ DVDs.

However the DVD's longevity I've only had them for about 2-3 years so I can't really say anything beyond those.

fazers_on_stun, you have a great name screenname

I agree - I usually buy blank media from Meritline.com but stick mainly to branded Ridata DVD-R or +R discs. They are generally pretty good but I found a bad disc this weekend - copied a movie and when it skipped and then froze about 40% into the movie, I examined the disc closely and found a pinhole with no dye and a small area around it with very little dye. So from now on I'm gonna turn on data verification in Nero

I'm not sure if someone posted this, but IMHO This is one of the best sites for dvd/cd info (burners, media, players, ect...) Link

HTH

Yeah, I've heard a few good things about Taiyo Yuden media - I think they supply a number of the big brands. However, see the below post from MeritLine User Forums:

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/har [...] 92353.html

Did you read my link? What the DVD/CD is made from makes a difference that can add or take away 300 years to its lifetime.

They dont need to wait. Tests can show the rate of Degradation.

OK
SUre I know there is little featherbility that I live to 300 years old or so

the question is : big brands with good raputation can not always promise a very steady qulity or a long lifetime.

So I think , in the case of purchasing DVDs ,there's only luck

Mm
For a long time we got a false image that the DVDR is very weak.
but i doubt it .
even not a TDK superdisc(anounced to be safe within 100 years),it can endure a long time ?
what caused dye deteroprates besides the X-ray?

To OP: a simple solution is to buy two external 300 GB drives, copy the data to both and whenever you add/remove new files, swap the two. Keep the spare in a safe place. I can almost guarantee you that the spare external drive will last longer then a DVD. Plus, they don't take up as much (physical) space as ~40 DVDs of data.

Off course, you don't have to resort to this. It's just a sure fire way to protect the data. I have an old (4-5 years?) drive that's performing the same as it was when I first got it. Plus, if the data on one of the drives ever becomes corrupt, you can simply pop in the backup and copy it over to a new one.

Think this is going a bit over top. I mean the world could explode and then what would we do?

If my house burnt down, the last thing i'd care about is some videos i got from the internet.

Probly not, but why not protect that too?