vinceJan 3, 2023

PSA: take some time in 2023 to back up your/your family's CD-Rs (and other recordable media) full of memories you threw into storage 10+ years ago; there's a decent chance they've started to rot!

the tenuously thin layer of dyes/adhesives holding the data *will* break down over time, rapidly so if their environment is uncontrolled, the surface was previously nicked/contaminated, or they were cheap ones to begin with

Show threadAnalog AI
@0x56 Make two copies: there is software (based on Linux dd, but doing error recovery) that can create a good copy with high probability from two bad ones.
And if the rot has set in, give it a try on your current single copy: ddrescue (gnu.org)
Jan 5, 2023 at 1:00amWeb
Show threadvinceJan 5, 2023
@Retrieval9096 oh nice, i was having good luck with testdisk/photorec and OS imaging utilities, but ddrescue looks like it could come in handy. thanks, added to my toolbox!