this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2023
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Data Hoarder

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We are digital librarians. Among us are represented the various reasons to keep data -- legal requirements, competitive requirements, uncertainty of permanence of cloud services, distaste for transmitting your data externally (e.g. government or corporate espionage), cultural and familial archivists, internet collapse preppers, and people who do it themselves so they're sure it's done right. Everyone has their reasons for curating the data they have decided to keep (either forever or For A Damn Long Time (tm) ). Along the way we have sought out like-minded individuals to exchange strategies, war stories, and cautionary tales of failures.

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[–] otakugrey@alien.top 5 points 11 months ago

I accidentally left a CD with a bunch of photos on it from 2005 in a shed outside until 2022 and when I mounted it, it ran great. I got back a bunch of photos from 2005 that I thought were lost. That shed gets hot as fuck during summer and then our Maine winters as famously harsh.

I was surprised the weather didn't kill the CD so as an experiment I burned a bunch of memes onto a CD and buried it in a plastic food container. I let it stay there a year and allowed the deep frost of winter to get to it. I dug it up a year later and it was fine.

So this is just a sample size of 2 but to me it seems normal everyday CDs are actually pretty tough and stable, even through brutal temperature changes and wet or frozen weather.

[–] rydan@alien.top 4 points 11 months ago

You technically don't own games. You own a license to play them. This has always been the case going back at least to the 80s if not before (first time I noticed this was Dr. Mario on the NES when reading the manual as I'd just learned how to read). If your disc is ruined you can contact them for a replacement disc since your license was not destroyed or forfeited. This is also why you are legally permitted to make one backup copy. Saves them from having to do the replacement themselves.

[–] Giocri@alien.top 4 points 11 months ago

Fun fact about cd, over half of the data present on a common cd is used for error correction and because of that it's still readable normally even in case of it having several sections significantly damaged.

[–] cvrseduwu@alien.top 3 points 11 months ago

For the last 5-8 years I only use game disks to make images out of them.

That said I have games that are 20 years old and I just keep them in normal boxes as well as jewel cases / paper sleeves and I never had a problem with a single disk going bad in any way.

I do plan to purchase a couple anti moisture gel packets and throw them into my wardrobe and boxes where I store stuff for the ease of mind :p

[–] Trick_Remote_9176@alien.top 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] Jimmy_Tightlips@alien.top 3 points 11 months ago

Disc rot is so overblown I'm genuinely convinced companies are influencing discussion around it to scare people away from optical media.

In the, probably near 1000, discs I own

I have one with rot, and that's a CD manufactured in a specific plant, within a specific timeframe known (for decades now) to have had issues.

So it's not as if it's a random occurrence which has caused that disc to fail, but posts like this always seem to push the idea that "your disc could just die at any time bro" and it's simply not true.

[–] iamtherepairman@alien.top 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I stored a cd R in a closet since 2004. It was sandwiched in a book for 2 years. I got curious and read it. All the files were there perfect. I copied the information and burned it to a Mdisc blue ray. In the mean time, I lost several gigs over the years from hard drive failures. One was internal of a laptop. Very unexpected. Another was an external harddrive.

[–] NavinF@alien.top 3 points 11 months ago

That's what happens when you don't have parity and backups. It'll happen to your optical media too, just give it a few years

[–] fflexx_@alien.top 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

This pops into my head everytime Mutahar goes on one of his “preservation rants.” My guy I do not care if the game gets deleted, it will be backed up digitally if it’s worth backing up.

[–] Brancliff@alien.top 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

When you pirate an entire console's library at once but then are like "Oh no it's okay if I say it's preservation first"

[–] fflexx_@alien.top 2 points 11 months ago

Me when I acquire an entire romset for the Turbografix-16

[–] Most_Mix_7505@alien.top 2 points 11 months ago

Codex are doing the real game preservation nowadays

[–] personguy4440@alien.top 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Really makes me wonder what on earth kind of place this was stored in

[–] Bruceshadow@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago
[–] mr_this@alien.top 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Just wait until we can access our DNA

[–] tehyosh@alien.top 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

we kinda can, but the throughput is awful

[–] mr_this@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

There's only one legal gene therapy here, I reckon it'll be some years before we're allowed more

[–] caseyweederman@lemmy.ca 2 points 11 months ago

I can access it just fine. I just can't read it.

[–] isvein@alien.top 2 points 11 months ago

That looks like mold 😮reminds me og back in the days when a friend lent a cd to another friend. When he got it back it looked like it was used to eat dinner on.

Cant remember of the cd still worked.

[–] BastetFurry@alien.top 2 points 11 months ago

When your frigging C64 5 1/4" disks keep their data for longer than relative modern DVDs...

[–] displayboi@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (11 children)

I have never seen a factory pressed CD/DVD fail. Optical media is the most reliable.

[–] itsaride@alien.top 2 points 11 months ago

There was an issue with discs made by the PDO pressing plant in the UK between 89 and 93 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_disc_bronzing

[–] AshleyUncia@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I've seen it, but I collect a lot of magazine cover discs, 90s PC games and stuff, it's def pretty darn rare. 'Did the previous owner(s) abuse the disc?' is a vastly higher concern for me in my eBay adventures.

[–] displayboi@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I do have two magazine discs that I had trouble reading that were probably rotting, but they were definitely left in the sun for a long while judging by how brown they where, that or they were put inside an oven.

[–] kamikazilucas@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

i have multiple wii u discs that dont work

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[–] AirPlenty@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

God, it hurts to see that CD. I remember when I was a kid, I had PS1 games that my uncle recorded into CDs and some of the time they would get spots all over.

One of my current DVD-RW discs (for live CDs) has disc rot on the edges. It's the only one with the issue. I wonder what really causes it, aside from humidity in the ambient.

[–] Jossokar@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

thats why i dont bother about collecting games anymore XD

[–] FireCrow1013@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

What's the consensus as far as BD-R discs go? Does the coating help them last longer?

[–] DanSantos@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I'm pretty sure.

[–] tobimai@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Also good luck when you loose the key

[–] kamikazilucas@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

wii u disc moment

[–] JokeDeity@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago

I'm at a loss, I have tons of old CDs, none have "rotted" and I definitely didn't do anything in terms of preservation.

[–] SSUPII@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Still better than relying to a third party server that can and will eventually shutdown and not let you download your licensed data anymore.

[–] ScrioteMyRewquards@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Not to mention being completely at the mercy of forced updates which can ruin your favorite game at any moment. People bitch about having to install from disks and patch manually, but I value that freedom and control.

For example, for me, Company of Heroes peaked at 1.71. This is fine because I simply install it from disk, apply the two patches required to get it to 1.71, and play the game exactly how I like it forever. I wish I could do the same thing with some modern games, which have been ruined by developers who don't know when to stop tinkering with their work.

Only GOG seems to be allowing for the old way of installation for new triple-A releases. I'll never be forced to install any particular version of The Witcher 3 or Cyberpunk 2077 because I have the offline installers and all the incremental patches saved.

[–] Skitzo_Ramblins@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

So far steam has been around way longer than the average lifespan of dvds and you can still share your game license with a friend

[–] SSUPII@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

That's true. In fact is the only storefront I am trusting. I do all my gaming on Nintendo DS/3DS (cartriges) or Steam Deck

[–] Supertrinko@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

My first choice is always GOG because the best method is keeping a copy for myself. My second choice is Steam.

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[–] Gradius2@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

True back up is with LTO.

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