CD collections face a strange epidemic — discs are mysteriously cracking and shattering

[Redaktion]

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

[Hasel]

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)

[indyp]

This was known in the early 2000s.  Same goes for Tape backups, long seen as the gold standard in cold storage.