XPost: aus.computers, alt.os.linux.debian   
   From: none@invalid.com   
      
   On 18/08/2025 01:15, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:   
   > They did last for a few years. Unlike rewritable media.   
      
   I was intrigued as there is a shelf of writeable and re-writeable media   
   here. So I sampled them at random, when I had removed all the crap off   
   the shelf so I could get to the disks. They're accessed once every   
   'never'! I should bin them but there is 33 years work and hobby history   
   tied up in them. And I can guarantee there'll be a data sheet on one of   
   them about some obscure chip that I just will not be able to find on the   
   net if I bin them.   
      
   Anyway, results.   
      
   Stamped (mass produced) CD-ROM from 1995. All 630+ MB read with no   
   errors reported. Read quite slowly.   
      
   CD-R from 2001 with MC C++ v6.0. Read faster than the CD-ROM and again   
   no reported errors. 600+MB copied   
      
   CD-R from 2004 read with no errors. 600+MB copied   
      
   DVD-R from 2008 2GB read with no errors.   
      
   CD-RW from 2007 630MB read with no errors.   
      
   So a massive sample of 4 disks pulled at random all read perfectly. I   
   don't know how many soft correctable errors there were but CD / DVD has   
   a large amount of built error correction just to fix the fact there can   
   be errors on new media never mind old stuff.   
      
   Drive was a HL-DT GU90N which is a slim laptop style drive.   
      
   I was surprised the writeable media all read without problems. Now   
   having found a copy of Win XP SP3 I should see if I can find something   
   to install it on just for shits and giggles.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)