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English => News => Topic started by: Redaktion on August 15, 2026, 23:26:15

Title: CD collections face a strange epidemic — discs are mysteriously cracking and shattering
Post by: Redaktion on August 15, 2026, 23:26:15
CD collectors are facing a strange new threat: some discs have begun cracking or even shattering because of chemical damage and fumes released by certain storage materials. The problem adds another risk to the long-term preservation of optical media.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/CD-collections-face-a-strange-epidemic-discs-are-mysteriously-cracking-and-shattering.1369645.0.html
Title: Re: CD collections face a strange epidemic — discs are mysteriously cracking and shattering
Post by: Hasel on August 16, 2026, 08:50:00
Interesting. Maybe plasticizers evaporating is another reason (common experience when cheap plastic tools start cracking (extremely) easily after some time, even without UV interaction (and when they are not UV protected by other chemicals, then even much faster)).

PS: CDs are not a long term storage medium, make backups and backups of backups and for important data, another backup of that. 3-2-1 rule: 3 backups, on 2 different types of mediums and 1 copy stored in a different location. (SSDs are not a long term storage medium either, when after a relatively short time without power)
Title: Re: CD collections face a strange epidemic — discs are mysteriously cracking and shattering
Post by: indyp on August 16, 2026, 15:51:25
This was known in the early 2000s.  Same goes for Tape backups, long seen as the gold standard in cold storage.
Title: Re: CD collections face a strange epidemic — discs are mysteriously cracking and shattering
Post by: nicolas on August 16, 2026, 19:04:06
les cd-r/dvd-r sont plus fragiles que les cdrom et dvd car pas la même qualité de fabrication. de plus selon le lieu de stockage, ils se fragilisent plus rapidement (si exposer à une forte chaleur +30⁰). perso tous mes cd et dvd (+ 10-20 ans) se portent bien. sur les photos on voit bien que la fissure se fait en retirant le disque du socle. si c'est un enfant qui le fait, il est fort possible qu'il le casse vu que les generations actuelles n'ont aucun respect pour quoique se soit 😄