Who are we?
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). Along the way we have sought out like-minded individuals to exchange strategies, war stories, and cautionary tales of failures.
We are one. We are legion. And we're trying really hard not to forget.
-- 5-4-3-2-1-bang from this thread
I've got music CDs from the early 90s that still work fine. Even CD-r and rw discs from the late 90s and early 2000s work.
Hell, I recently found a stack of 3.5" diskettes that still work.
The only time I've had an issue with media is when it's been physically abused (I.e. scratched or damaged).
I always bought the cheapest discs for backing up my media and out of maybe 1000 disks, checked last year, only 15 or so were either partly or completely unreadable
Same for me; pretty much all my CD-R are blank now; despite being stored properly 15 years ago.
The last burnt CDs were in 2k2, I just kept em on their spindles on my bottom shelf (not protected any more than that thru hot and cold) and all but 15ish were toast. Might have gotten lucky