Posted by Stuart Miller on 11/07/07 16:56

<lakedweller@ohionet.com> wrote in message
news:nk03j3h9uup5i2jhht9a1ngho5sj9umcln@4ax.com...
>I know that vcr tapes wear out from playing them. I was originally
> told that dvds never wear out but now I hear different. One thing I
> dont understand is that when a dvd is burned, a laser melts the data
> on to the dvd. Then that same laser plays the dvd later. It only
> makes sense that each time a dvd is played the laser melts more of the
> disk, so eventually the dvd wears out or should I say the data melts
> away. This got me asking how many times a dvd can be played before it
> dies? I heard that dvds made at home die much sooner than the
> commercial ones because the commercial ones are made more durable. Is
> this true?

A few things I can add to the posts already here.

The 'factory' dvd's are stamped rather than burned and should have
indefinite life (if everything is done right).
The dyes uses in dvd-r or dvd+r has been known to fade over time, but this
is not related to number of reads.
Apparently the dyes in dvd+rw and dvd-rw are less stable and may fade sooner
than their 'permanent' counterparts.

The advice seems to be, do not rely on your burned dvd's to be permanent. It
would be wise to copy the important data to new media every few years. ( but
how many of us will remember to do that?)

Stuart

[Back to original message]