Re: [ARSCLIST] Storing Mini-Discs

[Rod Stephens <savecal@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Back eons ago when I first started using digital hardware/software to 
edit motion pictures, the MO was considered to be a less expensive 
storage option (with its drive) than hard drives.  It's hard to believe 
that a 450 MB hard drive would have about cost $1000 then.  But, the 
technology for MOs wasn't perfected then (they became corrupted) as I 
lost some audio/video files in trusting them.  I would guess that has 
changed, today.

Rod Stephens
Family Theater Productions

Richard L. Hess wrote:

> Lou,
>
> You raise good points about the M-O structure of MDs. I hope I was 
> careful to address the player issue in my original post. Your friend 
> may be correct, but I believe most life-time analysis has been done on 
> industrial M-Os not MDs. I'm sure not trusting my stuff to MD. I 
> consider it a capture medium, not an archival medium.
>
> There have been both manufacturer and independent testing about the 
> longevity of the Phthalocyanine dye used in the MAM-A discs. It is 
> claimed that this is a Mitsui patent.
>
> I suspect that the writing drive is an issue for both MDs and CDs. 
> Jerry can chime in with more details here.
>
> I'm using managed disc drives for much of my current storage and I am 
> a fan of managed storage in the data domain. I am not a fan of 
> dedicated formats in general for archiving. I make an exception for 
> gold audio CD-Rs as they are readable in computers as well as audio 
> players.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Richard
>
> At 06:11 PM 10/13/2005, you wrote:
>
> > Richard, I can't speak to the future players, but a radio friend of 
> > mine thinks that MDs are MORE archival as they have magneto-optical 
> > recording and may last longer than the only-chemical CDs. He took the 
> > time and trouble to transfer 20 years of weekly programs to MD for 
> > the permanent archive on this theory.
> >
> > Do you think he might be wrong? Discounting the availability of 
> > players, for the sake of discussion. You are probably right about 
> > that the way things are going with the players though nothing is 
> > gospel any more.
> >
> > Thanks for your opinion!
> >
> > Lou Judson . Intuitive Audio
> > 415-883-2689
> >
> > On Oct 13, 2005, at 1:59 PM, Richard L. Hess wrote:
> >
> > > Digitally transfer them to two CD-Rs and store the CD-Rs. Or better 
> > > yet, if you have a managed digital archive that can accept them, 
> > > store them in that.
> > >
> > > I don't think many of us think that MDs are archival. I wouldn't 
> > > worry about an archival box for a medium that probably isn't 
> > > archival. I don't think we can expect the long-term availability of 
> > > MD players as compared to CD players.
> > >
> > > Good luck!
> > >
> > > Richard
>
> Richard L. Hess                              richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Aurora, Ontario, Canada             http://www.richardhess.com/
> Detailed contact information: 
> http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm