How To Choose CD/DVD Archival Media

(Last updated January 11th 2013)

Translations: Serbo-Croatian by Jovana Milutinovich



Short history of the Compact Disc






Short history of the DVD




Why archival media is hard to produce







Why Taiyo Yuden media, and how to buy in the US




Why DVD+R?


















And finally, the end of the article…







Samsung: Samsung is currently producing two drives worth owning, the
Samsung SH-S222AB


















Written by
Published in
Transmissions from the Little Blue Marble

Published October 30th, 2006


1,250 Responses

I am looking for reliable archival media that will protect my photo files. Will the gold DVDs do this job?

Seems to me that Sony / Phillips, Hollywood, and RIAA have aspired to limit how much can fit on optical media. My SD card holds more than most Double Layer DVDs. Why hasn’t optical media kept pace with hard drive capacity? CDs used to be 10x bigger than harddrives. Now, even Blu-Ray is about 1/10th the size of easily available harddrives.

Sony has a conflict of interest in that it is a major player in selling content (music data) as well as the medium. Seems they do not want that higher capacity media to hit the market. SysAdmins need better choice than tape.

I read your article for the media information, but was also in the market for my first DVD burner. I’m in the Cincinnati area and found a PX716 locally (appears to be a refurb for 149.99, WOW, sort of pricey), but they also had the Samsung SH-S202G/BEBN for 29.99, so I bought it. Store claims to have sold 4-500 of these with zero returns. Will go with your recommendation for archival media, many thanks for the info, I know just enough to get me in trouble. 1-14-2008

milsoRgen: I buy discs in extremely large bulk, up to 200 at a time. Since thats about 25-30 cents a disc at current prices, I just use my TY discs for “throw away” discs.

30 cents compared to the 66 cents you’re paying is a big difference.

Great recommendations and info to back it all up. This really was a great read, and I know the whole purpose was to look take a look at optical media for archival purposes. But what about quick ‘n cheap burning? What commonly found brand do you recommend for uses less than archival? Such as a quick Linux install, file sharing or DivX playback? Personally I’ve been using 2 dollar 3 packs of DVD+R Maxewell media.

Sony discs in my experience die rather quickly… your archived data may already be dead. It may be too late to transfer your data to something else.

Now, the Gold archival people aren’t wrong, their discs do last long… but no longer than TY or Verbatim. Its like the people who try to sell $3000 audio cables to carry digital audio. It works; it just does not work better.

Terrific read. thanks so much for taking the time to post this! i found your article while trying to do my own research on ‘archival gold’ dvd media.

Over the past 2 years, I have been painstakingly transferring our 50 or so 8mm and MiniDV tapes, to DVD’s, for the sake of not only being able to enjoy the chapters and custom editing i can do with a DVD, but for of course, longevity as well.

I, like probably many, have now heard the term ‘Gold Archival media’, and am led to believe that i am foolish to keep any of my ‘treasured’ memories on anything but..

I have OCD, and so now am obsessed at what i should do. part of me wants to grab a spindle of 100 MAM-A gold DVDs and redo my countless hours of editing..
but what is the reality of the longevitity of my current library – I only, ONLY use Sony DVD+R media, simply because i have enjoyed perfect compatibility and historically high quality. I store them all in slim-line clear DVD cases purchased from Best Buy.

Will all my movies suddenly go up in smoke in 25 years? or do you believe the ‘gold archival’ craze is a means of marketing to people so they go out and buy more expensive media, with no ‘real’ discernable difference ?

Thank you for your continued insight! really enjoyed reading.
regards, david

agreed with roger

According to SuperMediaStore, they are producing 16x DVD+R now.

Hey Patrick. Again, great article.

A long time ago I bought 100 Taiyo Yuden DVD+R 8x. Sow I’m having a hard time trying to get some more – don’t know why, but it seems no online store is shipping internationally. I’m not sure, but I’m almost certain I bought from supermediastore at the time… damn it! 😀

Anyway, I just saw on eBay a TY’s 100-Pak of a 16x DVD+R media. Since you say in your article that “Taiyo Yuden currently manufactures… 8x DVD+R” I started wondering (BTW, funny how the TY 8x DVD+R media is just not available there).

Is TY really producing 16x DVD+R? Any comments over this matter would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!


guy Jiri posted a comment on December 11th, 2006 at 10:10 pm.

Maybe someone’s interested in it, so here’s what I found. Since I really have to find as reliable sources as possible for anything Im gonna mention in my bachelor thesis, Ive been searching and I found this article, which pretty much explains how Jiri kinda misunderstood that part of your article (or maybe you might have explained it little better 😉 :-P).

See, Jiri thought you we’re mentioning protection of the actual data, but it regarded the information carried by “Pre-Pits”. If I got that right, there’s a 192b pre-pit for each ECC, carrying addressing info.

The CID stuff looks very very interesting. Now, given that disc manufacturers basically inflate the numbers of years their discs will last (I usually divide by 3 to get a more accurate number), this would seem to increase a 30 year disc to maybe 40 or 45 years (although something like this would have to be actually tested for a decade before you’d have an accurate outlook on how well they fair).

If they really are designed by Lucent, I’m sure it won’t cause damage, so there probably is no harm in using them… just don’t expect miracles.

Your son is somewhat correct, BTW. Some people refuse to look at actual research and simply go with what the manufacturer tells them. When dealing with multi-million dollar data (not that I’m saying you have that, nor am I saying you don’t have that), you do the testing yourself, or you go compile results from a bunch of major research projects.

Some people are simply obsessed with the word archival, and have really no idea what it really means.

That said, yeah, if someone gave me a stack of Verbatim gold discs, I’d know my data was safe… because its Verbatim, not because its gold.

As for different plastic types, polypropylene is decent plastic. Its used in the medical industry, its used for the sheaths on wires, its used in oven-safe/microwave-safe plastic containers. Its also extremely durable and dirt-resistant. Rubbermaid and Sterilite brand products are often made from polypropylene.

When burned, it emits little smoke, no toxic halogens (which leads to corrosive chemicals at high tempatures).

That said, its great for protecting discs and other archival materials. Cases made from that are usually of the highest quality you can get. Commercial DVD movie releases usually use DVD cases made from this material.

The DVD storage folder I use has the actual “pages” made from that material, and it hasn’t failed me yet.

David, if you start using those protector sheets, come back in a few years and tell me if they worked well. I may be interested in using them myself.


As to the Corrosion Intercept Technology. I just got the University Products catalog today. I’ve got the feeling they are very reputable. 320 pages and dedicated to museum and library professionals. I’ve done business before with their sister co., Lineco, which manufactures archival, acid free materials for museums, artists, bookbinding etc.

It says in the catalog that this technology was created by Lucent Bell labs. Their research found that within a closed enclosure, archival life was increased 40 to 120 yrs. U Products make full enclosures (albums, sleeves, pages etc. but are fairly expensive, so they offer a “cost effective” ($0.89 to $0.69 each) alternative- just the jewel case insert which they maintain absorbs organic gases, mold mildew and off-gassing of the media itself, acting as a barrier inside a “closed container”. I guess the caveat is the closed container.

Our 17 yr old son (our resident geek) insists that the clients need to see that gold disk saying ARCHIVAL. To be cost effective, I think I’ll just use the TY disk in a polypropylene case with a Corrosion insert and include a page explaining the archival nature of the package and how to care for their media.

Is there really a case for using only polypropylene enclosures. Is PP Poly the same?


David C.

Michael Spiros: I’m having trouble understanding what you’re saying. Are you trying to play DVDs in a CD-ROM drive? It won’t work even if you install software to do so.

David: Huh, that Corrosion Intercept product looks rather interesting, except it doesn’t protect around the edge as well (only the surface).

Still, I wonder if it works. If it does, then it’d be a boon to the optical media archival people; if it doesn’t, then I hope it doesn’t harm the media.

Hi Patrick,

My wife is a wedding photographer for some 35 years and over the last few years I have slowly brought her into the digital world. Now most of her work goes out the door on CD’s and DVD’s. The photolab she uses for reprints got her really worried that she should be using archival media and pointed her towards Delkin, When I got going to research I was taken back by the prices of gold…then I found your article and have read almost all of the follow-ups.

If you don’t mind commenting, I have decided to go the following route: Taiyo Yuden CD-r and DVD-r, using polypropylene jewel cases instead of the cheap (probably polystyrene) Compusa and Costco cases, which I read gives off a data deteriorating gas.

A company called University Products ( makes a case insert called “Corrosion Intercept, which collects any airborn pollutants, mold or mildew, which they say increased the data life another 40+ years. And for those few Lightscribe DVD’s we make , switch to the Verbatim v. 1.2 product, even though, nowhere can I find a published archival expectancy.

Should this be the way to go to ease my wife’s worries but not break the bank. When I asked her if she would be satisfied with just a hundred years with TY instead of the 300 yrs. with Gold, she was very happy just to assure her clients with 100.

Thanks in advanced for the reply and /or modifying suggestions.


I want to use my cd and also be able to play dvd on the same drive. My dvd driver is in but won’t recognize the dvd. Help?

I believe Verbatim makes Mini DVDs now, go use those.

I am currently archiving my older hi-8 tapes to DVD and appreciate the info found in your article. I just bought a mini dvd camcorder and wondered if you have any recommendations for the best media to use there? I intend to keep my original mini dvds and also burn copies on standard dvd for viewing and archiving. Thanks.

My opinion on dual layer discs does not have to do with archival. As far as I’ve seen, Verbatim’s dual layer discs archive just as well as their single layer discs.

What I dislike about dual layer discs, that unless your archival set is larger than 5 gigs and cannot be placed on multiple discs (such as, say, a larger than 5 gigabyte file, a backup of a pre-existing dual layer DVD, etc etc), and unless physical space is an issue (you need as few discs as possible), single layer DVDs are simply in your favor due to cost.

great and informative article but wondered about your being negative on dual layer discs due to their cost. An engineer on a canon yahoo group opined that the dual layer discs would have the best archival coatings due to how they have to be put down to do what they do-I can’t articulate the details because I don’t recall them and probably didn’t undrstand them at the time. What say you? Would the dual layer coatings (I’m thinking specifically Verbatim here or even generally speaking) be better archival protection than the coating over a single layer DVD (except of course for Taiyo Yuden DVDs). Many thanks, jim

thanks for the GREAT post! Very useful…

That implies Gold has some sort of drive incompatibility: it doesn’t. As long as the metal alloy in the media responds to the color of the laser, everything works fine.

how do you rate Verbatim’s gold-silver archival CDs + DVDs?
shouldn’t they beat the others due to their layer combination gold for durability; silver for drive compatibility?

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