Question Question durability DVD Mdisc media

cloudff7ps1

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DVD media (in my case M-DISC) undergo rigorous testing for durability and endurance in high temperatures and high humidity of 80% for a few hours to determine an estimated durability under normal storage conditions, if I am storing these media and the climate in my city is rainy and the humidity is almost 90% high temperature 30C on rainy days there will be a total loss of estimated useful life because the humidity has reached 90%???
 
DVD media (in my case M-DISC) undergo rigorous testing for durability and endurance in high temperatures and high humidity of 80% for a few hours to determine an estimated durability under normal storage conditions, if I am storing these media and the climate in my city is rainy and the humidity is almost 90% high temperature 30C on rainy days there will be a total loss of estimated useful life because the humidity has reached 90%???
These tests involved subjecting the disc basically to the same conditions as leaving the disc on a car dash while the sun is directly beaming down on it, plus high humidity. And out of all of those, I believe humidity is the least worrying of them. That is, a disc is going to rot sooner being under direct sunlight on a hot summer day than it is being subjected to 100% humidity at a temperature humans can tolerate.

Also you could just seal the disc up in a zip-lock bag, food storage container, or something.
 

USAFRet

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The DVD manufacturer's test works for a few hours with high temperature and humidity 80% if in my city it rains and the humidity rises to close to 90% then the disc and data fast dies?
M-disks, will, in theory, last far longer than a standard cheapo DVD or CD.
That is their claim to fame, to justify the price premium.

But...if you entrust your data to a single storage device, you are asking for trouble.
DVD, HDD, flash drive, cloud, whatever.
 
The DVD manufacturer's test works for a few hours with high temperature and humidity 80% if in my city it rains and the humidity rises to close to 90% then the disc and data fast dies?
The "high temperature" is 90C+. If you're living in a place that gets up to 90C+, I'd be very concerned.

Again, the testing is done in adverse conditions that you would normally not subject the media to. Unless you normally leave your DVDs on the car dash in direct sunlight with the windows rolled up and the humidity at 90%+ in which case you should really stop doing that.
 

cloudff7ps1

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here the temperature varies from 30-34C but on rainy days the humidity is close to 90% and the manufacturer's tests are at 85% for a few hours so on a rainy day the high humidity will die prematurely the mdisc dvd?
 
here the temperature varies from 30-34C but on rainy days the humidity is close to 90% and the manufacturer's tests are at 85% for a few hours so on a rainy day the high humidity will die prematurely the mdisc dvd?
Again, these discs were subjected to the following
  • Temperature: 90C
  • Humidity: 85%
  • Other: In one lab testing, "full spectrum light", which simulates being in direct sunlight
Are you storing the discs in all three conditions? If yes, then you're going to degrade the discs rapidly. If no, then you're not.

And if you're so fixated on humidity, just store the discs with one of those silica gel packets in a sealable container.
 
Relative Humidity above 65% will promote microbial growth and there are now several strains of fungi known to degrade polycarbonate, so those old predictions of plastic lasting in landfills for 1000 years are looking very wrong already.

Why reinvent the wheel? The traditional way to store something long-term is to bury it in an ammo can in the backyard because it's both cooler and there's far less temperature fluctuation underground. The silica gel desiccant mentioned in this thread can maintain relative humidity in a sealed container at 25% indefinitely, or you could fill the empty space inside with argon or CO2 welding gas or dry ice before sealing it up if you want 0%. If you can't get an ammo can, a cheap plastic 5-gallon bucket with gasketed lid should work just as well for a time capsule vault. But you'll probably want to bury it in the desert if you want it to last hundreds of years.

I too had CD-Rs regularly fail within a year of music storage in the car, but CD-Rs I burned in the 1990s and kept in a cool basement with no special treatment are still readable today. The initial error rate of higher density DVDs was much higher but still acceptable, but on Blu-Ray was so shockingly high that I never seriously considered it for data storage.
 

cloudff7ps1

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Relative Humidity above 65% will promote microbial growth and there are now several strains of fungi known to degrade polycarbonate, so those old predictions of plastic lasting in landfills for 1000 years are looking very wrong already.

Why reinvent the wheel? The traditional way to store something long-term is to bury it in an ammo can in the backyard because it's both cooler and there's far less temperature fluctuation underground. The silica gel desiccant mentioned in this thread can maintain relative humidity in a sealed container at 25% indefinitely, or you could fill the empty space inside with argon or CO2 welding gas or dry ice before sealing it up if you want 0%. If you can't get an ammo can, a cheap plastic 5-gallon bucket with gasketed lid should work just as well for a time capsule vault. But you'll probably want to bury it in the desert if you want it to last hundreds of years.

I too had CD-Rs regularly fail within a year of music storage in the car, but CD-Rs I burned in the 1990s and kept in a cool basement with no special treatment are still readable today. The initial error rate of higher density DVDs was much higher but still acceptable, but on Blu-Ray was so shockingly high that I never seriously considered it for data storage.
I didn't know these strains of fungus eat polycarbonate and is this easy to happen? I live in Brazil Ceara region

silica gel i used it for a while but i don't have a bag sealer and the ziplock bags let moisture in slowly so it always stays inside because the silica saturates
 

Karadjgne

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Yep same here too. , some of good make like Maxell and Kodak burned at slow speed last longest but home burned CDs for car's radio kept in my car's glove box didn't make it thru first summer.
You do understand just how hot it gets in the glove box, just under a dashboard in the middle of summer?

Cd/DVD is a thin layer of foil sandwiched between 2 layers of acrylic. Humidity affects the edge, how well the acrylic is sealed or not. Heat/UV affects the acrylic and foil on the entire surface.

So to preserve a cd/DVD for any amount of extended period, don't leave it in open air where humidity can affect the edges and don't put it in high heat/UV places like gloveboxes or on window sills.
 

cloudff7ps1

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You do understand just how hot it gets in the glove box, just under a dashboard in the middle of summer?

Cd/DVD is a thin layer of foil sandwiched between 2 layers of acrylic. Humidity affects the edge, how well the acrylic is sealed or not. Heat/UV affects the acrylic and foil on the entire surface.

So to preserve a cd/DVD for any amount of extended period, don't leave it in open air where humidity can affect the edges and don't put it in high heat/UV places like gloveboxes or on window sills.
i keep my DVD M-Disc at home inside the black dvdbox and inside cardboard boxes in the dark the temperature in my city varies 32-35C the humidity in the room varies 65-70% but I use dehumidifier in the room and the humidity stays 52 -55%

about the fungi you mentioned will they attack the polycarbonate of the dvd?