Popular blogs today are reporting that your CD-R backups of your photos and precious data may have a lifespan of only 2 to 5 years. Ack!
There is probably some truth to the story. It certainly wouldn’t surprise me if CD lifespans are shorter than we think. But what bugs me is that there is absolutely no data provided in the article. How about some tests? Did they use different types of CDs? Different types of CD writers? Did they store the CDs differently? Did they use the CDs frequently for reading? Who knows. They provided no data. Wouldn’t a responsible journalist at least provide a few crumbs of facts?
I know first hand that I have some CDs I’ve burned which I’ve used for more than 2 years. In fact, I regularly play a CD in my car that is dated 2001.
It’s probably all just dramatized yellow journalism. Or maybe we need to make backups of our backups. I haven’t done any studies, so don’t take my word for it!