FYI.... DID YOU KNOW? (pick a topic below)
M-DISK TECHNOLOGY
You're done with optical discs as a means of data and media delivery, or soon will be. But when done right, as it has been with Millenniata's M-Disc, optical has a particular advantage—longevity. Hard disk mechanisms fail, and the data stored on them can be erased by magnetic fields. Tape stretches and is also magnetically vulnerable. NAND won’t last forever, because cells leak and eventually fail. That leaves M-Disc looking pretty good in the media preservation, aka archiving role.
This diagram illustrates the difference between dye-based and inorganic recordable optical discs.
The advent of relatively unstable, dye-based CD/DVD recordable and rewritable, as well as the lack of quality standards governing them, caused many users to forget that pressed optical discs are very long-lived. CDs from the 80’s and 90’s should still play fine, assuming you haven’t scratched them up. Same deal with DVD and Blu-ray moves, which are manufactured similarly. And, even though few are aware of it, write-once BD-R HTL (High to Low, i.e., reflectivity, as in bright to dark) is rated to last 100 to 150 years. Why? Because the data layer is a non-volatile substance, as opposed to the light-sensitive organic dye used in CD/DVD-Rx and less expensive BD-R LTH (Low To High, dark to bright).
M-Disc also uses a non-volatile data layer, but an even better, rock-like one which is said to last ten times longer than BD-R HTL. If you can’t trust media that’s rated for 1,000 years, you’re pickier than I am. One note: Don’t freak out when you see an M-Disc DVD+R. It’s nearly transparent, but there is a data layer present.
The advent of relatively unstable, dye-based CD/DVD recordable and rewritable, as well as the lack of quality standards governing them, caused many users to forget that pressed optical discs are very long-lived. CDs from the 80’s and 90’s should still play fine, assuming you haven’t scratched them up. Same deal with DVD and Blu-ray moves, which are manufactured similarly. And, even though few are aware of it, write-once BD-R HTL (High to Low, i.e., reflectivity, as in bright to dark) is rated to last 100 to 150 years. Why? Because the data layer is a non-volatile substance, as opposed to the light-sensitive organic dye used in CD/DVD-Rx and less expensive BD-R LTH (Low To High, dark to bright).
M-Disc also uses a non-volatile data layer, but an even better, rock-like one which is said to last ten times longer than BD-R HTL. If you can’t trust media that’s rated for 1,000 years, you’re pickier than I am. One note: Don’t freak out when you see an M-Disc DVD+R. It’s nearly transparent, but there is a data layer present.