Yes, the older ones of the rotating backups are still readable.
But that’s not even the actual problem nowadays: CDs and DVDs were nice when their size was still relevant in comparison to usual amounts of data. The real problem behind their decay is that we are lacking a widely available, properly scaled backup solution for more than a decade. So the mean reason people have now unreadable optical data is that they stopped thinking about it a long time ago for an utter lack of options.
So the mean reason people have now unreadable optical data is that they stopped thinking about it a long time ago for an utter lack of options.
Well, there are 100GB and 120GB Bluray M-Discs. But yeah, the only things larger are either spinning rust (i.e. HDDs that need to be refreshed regularly to prevent bit rot) or very expensive LTO hardware and tapes.
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Still got a shelf full of 360 discs, I refuse to open them and hope that the cases they’re in protect them for life longer than mine.
Schrodinger’s Disk is both readable and unreadable until you try to read it.
A small handful of my burned CDs from 20 years ago are unbearable and as far as I can tell, none of my pressed CDs are. I’m sure they’ll rot eventually but I think your average cd is quite robust. Still, there’s no excuse not to have backups!
Burned CDs use photo sensitive ink to create the 0s & 1s, while pressed CDs physically alter the plastic. Even archival CDs were only rated for like 25yrs
