How to store CD and DVDs

[mysts]

With the whole country in deep freeze I thought it appropiate to ask what is the lowest temperature that CD and DVDs can be stored without harm.

[lordsmurf]

About 50 F -- 60 F is optimal archival temps.
Dipping into the 40s is as bad as going into 80s-90s.

Humidity is actually the bigger issue, dry heat and dry cold is better than wet heat/cold.

[redwudz]

I think the question is more suited to our Media Forum. Moving you.

[StrunkWriter]

Also avoid extreme temperature changes because it causes stress on your disc. To be honest, discs are pretty darn resilient in a fairly wide range of temperatures. A bigger concern is sunlight.

[edDV]

Also for recordable CDR, DVDR, avoid strong light. Dark storage is best.

[redwudz]

DVDs from Netflix survive in my mailbox for several days during summers here when the air temp reaches 117F.

[edDV]

DVDs from Netflix survive in my mailbox for several days during summers here when the air temp reaches 117F.

Those are pressed discs. They will be OK until they reach melting point and bend.

Recordable media has organic dye surfaces that degrade with heat or light.

[redwudz]

The recordables get fairly hot in the UPS truck when they deliver them also, but probably not above 100F. (I'm at the end of his route.) I know from long past experience that DVDs and CDs will 'pretzel up' fairly quickly in the rear window of a car, though.

I am curious about the dye on recordable DVDs. Is that only needed for burning or does it have anything or much to do with playback?

[edDV]

From Wikipedia

"The writing process does not produce indentations (pits); instead, the heat permanently changes the optical properties of the dye, changing the reflectivity of those areas. Using a low laser power, so as not to further alter the dye, the disc is read back in the same way as a CD-ROM. However, the reflected light is modulated not by pits, but by the alternating regions of heated and unaltered dye."

A car interior can reach 150 degrees F or more but i haven't noticed any errors in my car mix CDRs yet. They are stored in the console though.

[StrunkWriter]

I am curious about the dye on recordable DVDs. Is that only needed for burning or does it have anything or much to do with playback?

Instead of pressing a DVD with indentations, a DVD-R writes data to a disc by using its lasers to physically "burn" into the organic dye. When heated beyond a certain temperature, the area that was "burned" becomes opaque and reflects less light than the areas that have not been "burned". A DVD-R's "burned" and "unburned" areas of organic dye represent the pits and lands of a standard DVD. So, in other words, it has everything to do with playback. Make sense?

[redwudz]

Thanks, yes it does. For some reason I was thinking the dye was more like a 'filter' for the laser beam, not the medium for writing.