Envelope-to: dave@picks.force9.co.uk Delivery-date: Sun, 09 Oct 2005 11:12:56 +0100 Received: by pih-mxcore07.plus.net with spam-scanned (PlusNet MXCore v2.00) id 1EOYAo-000236-I0 for dave@picks.force9.co.uk; Sun, 09 Oct 2005 11:12:55 +0100 Received: from post.thorcom.com ([193.82.116.20]) by pih-mxcore07.plus.net with esmtp (PlusNet MXCore v2.00) id 1EOYAo-000222-Bm for dave@picks.force9.co.uk; Sun, 09 Oct 2005 11:12:54 +0100 Received: from majordom by post.thorcom.com with local (Exim 4.14) id 1EOYAb-00085H-Rs for rs_out_1@blacksheep.org; Sun, 09 Oct 2005 11:12:41 +0100 Received: from [193.82.59.130] (helo=relay2.thorcom.net) by post.thorcom.com with esmtp (Exim 4.14) id 1EOYAb-000858-8l for rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org; Sun, 09 Oct 2005 11:12:41 +0100 Received: from imo-m14.mx.aol.com ([64.12.138.204]) by relay2.thorcom.net with esmtp (Exim 4.51) id 1EOZ27-00084q-HW for rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org; Sun, 09 Oct 2005 12:08:03 +0100 Received: from GandalfG8@aol.com by imo-m14.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v38_r5.5.) id l.1d5.463fd27a (4446) for ; Sun, 9 Oct 2005 06:12:27 -0400 (EDT) From: GandalfG8@aol.com Message-ID: <1d5.463fd27a.307a470a@aol.com> Date: Sun, 9 Oct 2005 06:12:26 EDT To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: 9.0 SE for Windows sub 5014 Subject: Re: LF: Archiving Content-Type: text/html; charset=windows-1252 X-SA-Exim-Scanned: Yes Sender: owner-rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org Precedence: bulk Reply-To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org X-Listname: rsgb_lf_group X-SA-Exim-Rcpt-To: rs_out_1@blacksheep.org X-SA-Exim-Scanned: No; SAEximRunCond expanded to false X-PN-SpamFiltered: by PlusNet MXCore (v2.00) Content-transfer-encoding: 8bit

In a message dated 09/10/2005 10:58:11 GMT Daylight Time, john.rabson@wanadoo.fr writes:

I have a large number of e-mails relating to LF activity and wish to store them offline. Does anybody have any information on how long a CD-ROM should remain readable?

Hi John

I'm sure if I say indefinitely someone will tell me I'm wrong but I suspect for most practical purposes, given a properly burned CD in the first place, that's probably about it.

I have music CDs 20 years old and still fine, commercial data CDs of similar age, and home cut data CDRs of at least 5 years.

There was talk once of earlier CDs having limited lifespan, due to supposed problems with the magnetic coating in use at the time, but I can also remember back in the 70s being told that Eproms would never retain their data for more than 10 years and many of those are still going strong after 30.

Even if you don't go for "indefinite" an estimate of 10 or 20 years minimum should be quite reasonable.

regards

Nigel

G8PZR