Up To 10% of CD-Rs Fail Within a Few Years

[wraggster]

Whatever you think about the likelihood that a new kind of DVDs could last for 1,000 years, this note from reader crazyeyes should give you pause about expecting current CD-Rs to be reliably readable for decades. TechARP found a failure rate near 10% for CD-Rs recorded 7 to 9 years ago, after storage in ideal conditions. On some, one or more individual files could not be recovered; others were not reliably readable on two separate drives.
"In the past, hard disk drives were small (in capacity) and costly. To make up for the lack of affordable storage, many turned to CD-Rs. As it became common to store backups and personal pictures, videos, etc. on CD-Rs, the lifespan of these discs became a concern. According to manufacturers, CD-Rs should last for decades. Some even quoted an upper limit of 120 years based on accelerated aging tests! That sure is a long time, isn't it? But will CD-Rs really last that long?

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/07/19/213216/Up-To-10-of-CD-Rs-Fail-Within-a-Few-Years

[VampDude]

My earliest CD-R which was crammed with emulators, failed within three years in 2002.

I buy only the CD-R's that have respected brand names, because they are the ones who ensure the disc's won't fail upon their reputation (few with data loss warranties).