How Tough is Your Media?

[HacktheHacker]

My son took our back-up of a movie to his friends house and on returning home left the dvd, in a regular black plastic case, in a large pocket of his cargo shorts. These were put in the washing basket and then put through a full wash (medium heat) and then 30 mins in a dryer. The plastic case disintergated leaving a small part still attached to the dvd. The dvd was full of scratches but when I tried it it played perfectly!

This was verbatim non-hub printable media. Even the label did not wash off, it only faded slightly. It was a full colour picture covering the whole disk.

I was very surprised that it played fine, I would have thought the heat alone would have done enough damage. Of course this is why we have back-ups.

Anyone else have any experiences?

[edDV]

Not enough heat in the wash. A car in the sun gets as hot.

Direct sunlight is a larger problem. It will affect the dye.

[JudgeGarth]

What about all these cars you see with CD's stored in the sun visor? I always thought that must be bad for them.

[lordsmurf]

Pressed discs are not the same as dye-based discs.

[MOVIEGEEK]

What about all these cars you see with CD's stored in the sun visor? I always thought that must be bad for them.

They are bad but organic dye is more susceptible to heat and humidity than pressed media.