Recommended brand of CD-R?

Which brand of CD-R would you guys recommend?
Speed is not important at all to me, neither is the price. Durability, however, is very importan. I�d like to know what brand of CD-R has the most scratch resistant surface. The Memorex CD�s I use aren�t bad, but even they get scratched, considering that I treat my CD�s extra nicely.

Since I started a CD-related thread, why don�t I mention the brand of CD�s you should NOT buy. So, 'mkay, never, NEVER EVER buy CD�s from nexXtech, they are crap. As a matter of fact, don�t spend your money on ANYTHING by nexXtech.
Thanx

i use maxell and memorex.

I'd recommend the same, but also Verbatim. Verbatim is usually pretty cheap and they are good quality - and have dark surfaces which fare better with newer PS2 models.

And actually Imation makes decent cd-r's. You wouldn't think so because they are shitty discs, but I've got 2/3 of my PS1 collection on Imation and they work fine.

Never buy Moserbaer. I've had about 20-25 odd DVD-R's of theirs dying on me : (. Lost so much data back then. Now I'm using Samsung and Sony DVD's. As for CD's, the Kodak gold plated CD's of 10 years ago were the best =D. My CD's from 10 years ago still work awesome whereas some of my CD's from last year are dead.. =/

Good point MasJ - if you're trying to avoid disc-rot then go after Verbatims and Riteks. They should have a long shelf life.

I remember those Kodak Gold discs - i had a bunch of those back when I had a 4x burner and they still work to this day. Don't make em like they used to.

Bleh memorex!
Get Verbatim, FujiFilm or TDK. :D

oh yeah! fuji and tdk for sure. i used to use those the most when i only used cd's

Verbatim, Maxell. That's it. Oh, if you're looking for really really cheap cd's, get the Staples brand. From Staples stores. They are exact duplicates of Verbatim cd-rs, except they're alot cheaper when you go to Staples :P Or so the Staples employee told me. They work perfectly, trust me.

Thanks, guys.

For DVD-R, go Ritek. Never buy Princo discs, they fail after about 12 months. All of 'em.

Hmm... I'm concerned about this topic...
Do all cd-r's fail after a certain period of time? Audio or data? Because I've had a ton of cd-rs (mostly audio burned) for a few years, and they still work. Does this mean that a certain brand of cd-r I have all that burned onto... will those cds eventually fail and not work anymore??

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lagwagon_87

Hmm... I'm concerned about this topic...
Do all cd-r's fail after a certain period of time? Audio or data? Because I've had a ton of cd-rs (mostly audio burned) for a few years, and they still work. Does this mean that a certain brand of cd-r I have all that burned onto... will those cds eventually fail and not work anymore??

---

yes, nothing lasts forever. all our burned cds and dvds will die one day. If you want to grow old with your data, you're gonna have to reburn on a ~5 year basis. it varies per brand. one lasts longer than the other.

And what brands are available also depends where you live.(i'm in Europe) Most brands mentioned in this thread I never heard of. Only TDK (which is the one I use most, 1% failed on me), Fuji (10% of them failed) Verbatim (0% fail). I sure wish kodak still made their gold cd-r. those will always be the best CD-R. I have <10 Phillips, so far they still read ok but that's not enough to make a final judgement on it. ironically I bought a 100CD-R pack of a no-name brand. the CDR are completely white on top, no name/ label nothing. Came all wrapped up in plastic, those still read perfectly, not one has failed me after 2 years :lol

do NOT buy CDR from department stores (with that store's logo/brand on the CDR), those are the worst! Trust CDR also suck (Trust makes PC hardware devices, mouse, keyboard, etc)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Myst

yes, nothing lasts forever. all our burned cds and dvds will die one day. If you want to grow old with your data, you're gonna have to reburn on a ~5 year basis. it varies per brand. one lasts longer than the other.

And what brands are available also depends where you live.(i'm in Europe) Most brands mentioned in this thread I never heard of. Only TDK (which is the one I use most, 1% failed on me), Fuji (10% of them failed) Verbatim (0% fail). I sure wish kodak still made their gold cd-r. those will always be the best CD-R. I have <10 Phillips, so far they still read ok but that's not enough to make a final judgement on it. ironically I bought a 100CD-R pack of a no-name brand. the CDR are completely white on top, no name/ label nothing. Came all wrapped up in plastic, those still read perfectly, not one has failed me after 2 years :lol

do NOT buy CDR from department stores (with that store's logo/brand on the CDR), those are the worst! Trust CDR also suck (Trust makes PC hardware devices, mouse, keyboard, etc)

---

Ah! This is worrying me now! I have to start re-burning all my cds now (I have tons of years-old burned cds). Thanks for all that info Myst :P It really helped me. So much work to do...!
Oh, and as for real cds... the ones you buy in stores, like, music cds. Do those ever fail too?

And I don't get this whole thing about cds failing... I mean, if a certain cd stayed in the exact same spot untouched and protected for 5 or 6 years, shouldn't it still be good to last? I just don't get how this happens.
Thanks anyway.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lagwagon_87

Oh, and as for real cds... the ones you buy in stores, like, music cds. Do those ever fail too?

And I don't get this whole thing about cds failing... I mean, if a certain cd stayed in the exact same spot untouched and protected for 5 or 6 years, shouldn't it still be good to last? I just don't get how this happens.
Thanks anyway.

---

Why it happens I don't know. I've had games I never played. Just tested them for 5 min after buring and stored them away for years. then suddenly I take them out and they're bad. One thing you really gotta look out for is sunlight (ultra-violet rays). Keep CDs in utter darkness and you're guaranteed to have them around for 5+ years.....unless it's a crappy brand. Why crappy brands are still in business I don't know.

And CDs you buy in store, games/music and such, are "burned and pressed proffesionally". I dunno exactly what process they go through, but they do last a damn lot longer, it's something that cannot be done on home burners, probably a more costly proces. The oldest bought CD I have is 10 years old. Still reads fine. But the sunlight rule still applies to them, even the dimmest sunlight slowly contributes to the shortening of a CDs lifespan.

How can you start checking now that a CD might be going bad even though it's readable? Check the bottom real close, to see if it's going transaprent where you can actually start seeing the letters of the label from the bottom side. If that's the case, CD copy it cause it's going bad.(or copy to DVD with other CD images to save space) Keep the semi-transparent copy just in case anyway.

i think cdr failure may also be dependent on environmental considerations. we all know what happens if you leave a vinyl record in the sun (well, people that remember vinyl do) and if a cd is treated similarly, the plastic will degrade and possibly corrupt the data.

personally, i keep my cds in the large plastic coffee cans that have become a popular alternative to steel. air-tight, almost cd-shaped, and all your cds smell like coffee when you use them (mmmmm)