CD's

[PT]

Hi, I'm new to photography. What Cd's do people use to copy their pictures onto disk? Sony CD-R's alright?

 

[Artemis]

Should be matey, I use anything, as loong as they got some room.
Sony should work fine, but try getting some re writavles to use aswell.

 

[PT]

Ok, thanks!

 

[Harpper]

When it comes to CD-Rs I would stick to brand names if you want quality and reliability. There is an old thread on this forum where I talked about a cheap no-name CD exploded in my computer. So far I've never lost data or had CDs failing on me from the more trusted brand names. Some of my CDs are over 5 years old too. There's almost nothing worst then losting your pictures to a bad CD.

I've used a few Sony CDs and they aren't that bad. I usually like TDK CDs myself, but there are a handful of good brands out there.

Also, you won't need rewritable unless...well, unless you need rewritables. If you are only archiving your pictures then CD-Rs are much cheaper and the write speeds are usually faster too.

 

[molested_cow]

CD-Rs are never meant to last forever. Actually, no memory format will last forever. Your hard disk will eventually fail, usually after 6 or more years. Your USB flash disk will last a few million writes. You CD will probably last you a few years, then it will deterorate. So keep backing up important files.

 

[Patrick]

Seems like I read somewhere that blanks with a "silver" writeable surface have the longest life.

 

[StvShoop]

memorex has always worked well for me. i'm using tdk's recently and they are fine too.

stay far away from maxell, they make coasters, not cd's

 

[Harpper]

CD-Rs are never meant to last forever.

Yes, I agree but they should last longer than a few months. The no-name brands I used lasted about 3 months before they starting deterorating. The good brand CDs are still going after 5 years. Of course, it's a good idea to keep track of them so that you can make a new copy before they die or just make a second back up of important files after a few years. If you find yourself using one CD a lot then you should make a second copy of it and used that instead.

 

[voodoocat]

With CD-R's like anything else.. you get what you pay for. The myth that CD-R's last a few years was debunked but you should still stick with name brand stuff.

The best CD-R on the market should last over 50 yrs or so but they will cost you. Mitsui CD-R's cost between $.60-$1.20 a piece. The best way to archive images would be to write 2 copies. Once on the Mitsui, once on a regular cd-r. Use the regular CD-R to read from and if it ever fails make another backup of the mitsui. Also don't use a marker or label on the disk as that will shorten the life span.