CD’s and sunlight

B
Posted By
brian
Sep 21, 2006
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457
Replies
8
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Closed
Some of the cd’s I’ve stored images on have been lying in direct sunlight for quite a while. My computer seems to read them OK, but is there a chance that there’s damage that will only become apparent later? In other words, if I store them away from sunlight from now on, will they be OK?

One other query: is there any quick way of checking that a cd with lots of data on it is OK, without having to open each file? Is there any program that can do this?

Thanks in advance

Brian

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N
neon
Sep 21, 2006
brian wrote:
Some of the cd’s I’ve stored images on have been lying in direct sunlight for quite a while. My computer seems to read them OK, but is there a chance that there’s damage that will only become apparent later? In other words, if I store them away from sunlight from now on, will they be OK?

One other query: is there any quick way of checking that a cd with lots of data on it is OK, without having to open each file? Is there any program that can do this?

Thanks in advance

Brian
if, as you say, your cds have been lying in direct sunlight for quite a while you are truly blessed that they’re still usable. think about it…they’re made of plastic. cds should be stored in a dark environment at normal room temperature with moderate humidity. if they’re ok now and you store them properly they’ll probably be ok for a while. if it were me i would back them up immediately and store the backups properly.
as for a program? google!
J
Jim
Sep 21, 2006
"brian" wrote in message
Some of the cd’s I’ve stored images on have been lying in direct sunlight for quite a while. My computer seems to read them OK, but is there a chance that there’s damage that will only become apparent later? In other words, if I store them away from sunlight from now on, will they be OK?

One other query: is there any quick way of checking that a cd with lots of data on it is OK, without having to open each file? Is there any program that can do this?

Thanks in advance

Brian
EasyCDCreator has a program called scandisk which scans a CD for errors and can sometimes fix them. It isn’t real quick though. You get to the program through the menu of Drag to Disk.
Jim
T
Tacit
Sep 21, 2006
In article ,
"brian" wrote:

Some of the cd’s I’ve stored images on have been lying in direct sunlight for quite a while. My computer seems to read them OK…

Wow. You got lucky.

Recordable CDs work because they have a layer of photosensitive dye in them. When the laser records the CD, it uses an intense light to change the color of the dye.

Leaving a recordable CD in direct sunlight will, over time, destroy that photosensitive dye and make the CD unreadable.
I suggest you copy all those CDs and store the copies out of sunlight.


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Tom Nelson
Sep 21, 2006
Here’s an online article about CD longevity. It’s several years old — I wouldn’t trust their reviews of particular brands — but the basic article is sound.

http://www.cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/cd_quality.shtml

Tom Nelson
Tom Nelson Photography

In article ,
"brian" wrote:

Some of the cd’s I’ve stored images on have been lying in direct sunlight for quite a while. My computer seems to read them OK…
J
j
Sep 22, 2006
Jim wrote:
EasyCDCreator has a program called scandisk which scans a CD for errors and can sometimes fix them. It isn’t real quick though. You get to the program through the menu of Drag to Disk.

Of course it can’t fix them by writing to the same CDROM unless it’s a re-writable, and even then it is a rather bad thing to do considering the disc is already damaged.
J
jimbok
Sep 22, 2006
On 21 Sep 2006 04:35:21 -0700, "brian" wrote:

One other query: is there any quick way of checking that a cd with lots of data on it is OK, without having to open each file? Is there any program that can do this?

CD Check freeware will do that.

http://www.kvipu.com/CDCheck/

jimbok
MR
Mike Russell
Sep 22, 2006
"Tom Nelson" wrote in message
Here’s an online article about CD longevity. It’s several years old — http://www.cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/cd_quality.shtml

I wouldn’t trust their reviews of particular brands — but the basic article is sound.

LOL – so articles about CD longevity are themselves not very long lived. 🙂 —

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com/forum/
J
Jim
Sep 22, 2006
"j" wrote in message
Jim wrote:
EasyCDCreator has a program called scandisk which scans a CD for errors and can sometimes fix them. It isn’t real quick though. You get to the program through the menu of Drag to Disk.

Of course it can’t fix them by writing to the same CDROM unless it’s a re-writable, and even then it is a rather bad thing to do considering the disc is already damaged.
It fixes them during reading of the file into memory by your graphics program.
However, you can add files to a CD-R. If the file "replaces" an existing file, Drag to Disk marks the existing file as deleted (sorry, I have never tried to determine exactly how this can be done) and then writes its replacement to disk.
Jim

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