TECHNOLOGY FILE

STEVE MAKRIS
Journal Technology Writer
EDMONTON

Don't expect your computer-burned CD to last longer than five years, experts warn

So you think all the precious digital pictures you have been saving on CD-ROM are safe?

Think again.

Experts agree, many CDs made by computers equipped with CD burners will not make it past five years.

"Although CD-writing technology has matured, blank CD media is still unpredictable," said Susan Munro, owner of Edmonton based Mehco Inc., a CD-ROM duplicating and replicating service

Munro attributes the short CD life to poor sealing of disk edges, allowing moisture and air to seep

in and corrode the recorded digital information.

Munro's best advice for consumers who want to be sure of the quality of CD media they buy is stick with a good brand name and don't worry about the higher prices. Blank CDs cost from 40 cents to one dollar each.

But the fact is "stores and consumers have no way of knowing how good blank CDs are," Munro says."The best way a store knows is by the number of customers complaining about one particular brand."

Surprisingly, very few stores are aware of longevity issues with recordable CDs, but most say a 10 percent failure rate is acceptable.

Computer professionals warn that digital information should not be kept on anyone media for more than five years. That includes hard drives, floppy drives and data tapes.

"Almost nothing lasts forever, so the best way to maximize the security of important information is to store it in as many different ways as possible," said Martin Parry, spokesperson for harddrive maker Maxtor.

Despite the low failure rate of hard drives, one should always back up data, he says.

Even Kodak, which leads the digital photography revolution, looks to the past when giving advice on archiving digital pictures.

"I would put my most important digital images back on photographic film," said Kodak Canada's John Guest. "If properly stored, it will outlast most recordable CDs."

Elsewhere, traditional photographic film is vanishing.

A self-serve photo lab kiosk from Applied Science Mon (ASF) combines the best of traditional film photography and digital.

Drop your undeveloped film in the slot and in seven minutes you have photo quality prints, even cropped 8x10 blowups and a freshly recorded CDROM full of your digital memories. Your roll of film, however, gets destroyed during fast "dry chemical" processing.

Another storage option is DVD recording, which stores seven times more pictures and data than CDs. HP Canada says their DVD media is good for 50 to 100 years.

The other long-term storage alternative is digital, offering ease of use like fast retrieval, but with one troubling caveat.

"If you commit to today's digital storage technologies, then be prepared to keep investing in constantly evolving standards to keep your information up to date," says David Betty, of Calgary based West Canadian Graphics. "If you don't keep up, consider that information lost."

Microfilm, which now lasts 500 years, stores photos and is a cost-effective alternative he says.'A hundred years from now, all they’ll need to look at it is a candle and a magnifying glass."