DVD-RW lifespan

[lj01]

I have read a couple threads on this (some posted back in the 2004 era) so I thought I would revive this particular question and relay my experience.

So, I've read that DVD-RWs can be re-used up to thousands of times, and I have not tried this, but I don't have any reason to doubt that. I'm wondering, though, do they only hold up for a certain amount of time (in my experience, about 3 years it appears?)

I have a viewing system whereas I re-record on DVD-RW discs about once a year. The first year I did this was 2008. I used Maxell DVD-RW originally and noticed that around the 2010-11 timeframe (and after having re-recording on those discs maybe 3 times) that in general, the failure rate was high (when I would view them the discs would freeze or something like that). The failure rate was astonishingly high. Over the years, I've used mostly TDK but I've also noticed that those fail in the same way (the ones I bought circa 2008 or even 2009) with freezing and/or my DVD player won't recognize them in some cases. Not ALL of them have problems, but I would say without a doubt the failure rate is higher for a DVD-RW I've had for 3 years as opposed to those I've had one year. Note that I use imgburn to record on these mostly at 4X. Maybe I should record only at 2X or 1X?

Just wanted to see if I was on to something in my hypothesis ("DVD-RW only last about 3 years no matter how much your record and re-record on them") or see if anyone else had similar experiences and/or remedies.

Thanks for any help - I haven't posted in a long time but the help I have gotten on this board has been outstanding and really helped set me straight on being able to accomplish what I wanted to, video recording and editing-wise.

[TreeTops]

You probably should have posted your question in the MEDIA forum.

[redwudz]

I'll move the thread.

Moderator redwudz

[jman98]

I don't buy ANY RW media unless Verbatim makes it. End of story.

DVD-RW costs more than DVD+RW. Unless you have a really compelling reason for using DVD-RW discs (ie. your DVD recorder can't use DVD+RW) you should not do so.

My experience with all RW media is that they will never last as long as they claim. I've seen discs develop problems on the first burn. That's not normal, but I've seen it. Even with Verbatim. Buying Verbatim can give you a better chance at longevity but do note that RW discs were never designed for long term storage. If you need to keep it, it needs to go on a write once disc. We've had reports of various RW discs lasting for 5+ years with no degradation, but you can't count on that.

[hech54]

RW discs are complete garbage. I've never had any luck with them.

[jagabo]

I've never used DVD-RW discs but I have 15 year old Verbatim DVD+RW discs that were burned once and all the data on them is still pristine (I also have backups on hard drive and DVD+R and DVD-R so I can verify the data). I have others that have been overwritten dozens, maybe hundreds, of times and still work fine. I've only have a few go "bad" usually from being dropped and getting scratched!

But I agree, you should use RW media for transient data. +/- R media for more permanent storage. And even then you have to have more than one backup of critical data. And verify them every year or so. And there are only two consistently good brands: Verbatim (not the cheap "Life" series) and Taiyo Yuden.

[CobraPilot]

hech54 must be snake-bit: I've used +RW discs are several years, with reasonable results. Had one with an obvious manufacturing miscue near the outer edge (works fine for shorter burns), and another one that didn't like to record at a particular speed (I forget which one). Brand names have been varied, and manufacturers those often held in high disdain on this board.

I've just never figured out what I'm doing right . . . .

You mileage may vary.

[lj01]

thanks for the replies.

yes, this is transient data. in theory, I guess i could just burn what i want on dvd-r and then discard it if I'm only going to get an average of 3 burns (3 years) out of a DVD-RW (the cost would be similar and I wouldn't as much have to worry about the unexpected failure) but maybe a Verbatim DVD+RW would be the way to go?

[jman98]

I've got some Verbatim DVD+RW discs that I've had for 4 years and done many burns on. I've got some Verbatim DVD-RW discs (given to me for free by a relative) that I've had less than 1 year and done multiple burns on. You should be able to count on an RW disc lasting for 3 years and 1 burn a year, yes, but that doesn't mean that you won't find an RW disc somewhere that just immediately has problems, even with Verbatim.

If I remember correctly Taiyo Yuden doesn't even produce RW discs, which tells you what they think of the format and its reliability. Verbatim is the only manufacturer of RW media that I would trust.

[Moontrash]

I've never seen any -RW discs but I have a Fuji (RICOH) 2.4x +RW. I've had it for 10 years and it still works fine. I've had Memorex that didn't last but a few redo's. I've had some, Imations that did pretty good for a while but as a whole, It's just cheaper to buy some cheapo dvdr's and burn em off and toss em. IMO, Rewritable media is a waste of money. Too unstable/unreliable.

[mammo1789]

I use DVD-RW (DVD rw2 model silver ) Verbatim 4x ( 5 pieces ) mostly daily ( i record end erase maybe 1-3 times a day on my dvd recorder on pc or on my laptop) for 4 years now no problem what so ever, none, i love rw disks in stead of trowing a lot of dvd r. I also had DVD+RW from Verbatim for almost 9 years and i cant remember how many times i recorded on him games software movies and pictures music ( probably thousands of times no problem also), i have maybe 30 rw discs and had no problem reading or writing on them

Actually i had much more problems with cheap dvd r in the past then with rw especially on the dvd recorders.

[gll99]

I use RW all the time but nothing critical mostly to time shift unedited raw sd and HD tv shows. Most are DVD+RW and after many years even the 50 spindle shiny no name cheapies. the 80 or so 2x and 4x Memorex and the over 200 4x Imation etc... many of which I've reused many times are readable before erasing and reuse.

[boardbuilder]

From my experience, problems arise as soon as I burn an RW disc in a second burner. Now, I always burn a given RW disc in a given burner. Much higher success rate now.

[TreeTops]

I'm having terrible problems with Memorex +RW. Takes forever and a day to initialize then when I burn a video from Sony Vegas which works but then when I try to burn another video on the same +RW it will not work and spins and spins for an hour looking for something finally throws an error.

[lj01]

thanks again for the replies.

for those who have been successful with the RW, do you burn only at 1x or 2x or have you been successful with burns at 4x?

[jman98]

I've been doing successful 4x burns on RW media on the discs that support it. Some of my older ones only do 2x. I NEVER burn ANY DVD above 4x no matter what type it is or who made it so if I have faith in 4x burns, they should be OK for you too.

[gll99]

thanks again for the replies.

for those who have been successful with the RW, do you burn only at 1x or 2x or have you been successful with burns at 4x?

I burn at the rated max speed ie 2x at 2x, 4x at 4x.

To anyone who has trouble reading discs try a newer burner / reader. I had a couple of the discs which took a long time to load with my much older often used NEC and LG 4163b used for the original burns but when I retired those and started using 2 LG GSA H55N drives and a Liteon iHAS120 they read fine. I don't know for a fact but I guess possible reasons might be that the laser gets weak or out of calibration, the drive develops mechanical spin issues, or maybe even the lens was just dirty.

[edong]

You mileage may vary.

You're right. Before we have a DVR, my late wife used only 'one' FujiFilm DVD+RW disc to record daily the TV programs that she watched after work. For more than a year. I still use that disc for occassional recording

[lordsmurf]

DVD+RW are prone to errors -- cratering in the dye.
You'll find discs that quick working after just a few uses. Most last just a few dozen reuses on average.

DVD-RW are not as prone to flaws. I've had discs that have been reused 100+ times for almost 10 years.

I've discussed this more in depth many times in past years, on this forum and others.

[gkotse]

My personal record is 29 iterations. After that, the disc becomes useless.
1 iteration = burn the movie on the DVD+RW disc, then play back the disc on home cinema DVD player.
Media used: TDK, Maxell, Verbatim DVD+RW.
Burning speed: maximum available (6x or 8x).

[teodz1984]

I'd give DVD RW 1 year of constant use.. After that it makes a goood beer coaster

[lacywest]

I've had some Ridata DVD-RW disks since 2006 ... 25 Pack ... been using them to burn AVI Divx videos to them and watch them on a Philips DVD Player in my bedroom ... how long to they last ... cant really say ... they got left every where just getting scratched like crazy. Sometimes I do find some from the original stack and not scratched ... and they work just fine.

Staples had a sale on Memorex DVD+RW ... and yes ... I bought them ... they are working just fine.

But I'm not really doing that anymore ... I've a PC now in the bedroom working very well and it's networked with the one I am on in the garage ... looking forward to getting the living room PC up and running again.

[AlanHK]

I've got several RW discs, one, a Verbatim, I've had since I bought my first burner, in about 2006. I've used it hundreds of times. Burn them at the rated 4X speed.

Now it's pretty scratched up on the outer edge, but I can reliably read the first 3GB. I use it to copy videos to play once and erase, to make test burns to see how different video filters, bit rates, etc look on a real TV.

[lacywest]

Yep ... same with me ... it's the outer edge that gets messed up.

Oh and disks that become coasters ... I just put them in the trash container.

I dont use them for cold drink coasters ... but I do use them for lids to keep the frikkin flies out of my drinks ... I found one fly in my drink ... so now I close the center hole with scotch tape ...

[Constant Gardener]

I have a bunch of DVD+RWs, about five years old, that appear to be fine, but they've not been used much since we got a WDTV Live. I suspect they'll end up with the zip disks, tape cartridges, floppies, paper tape, punch cards...

[[_chef_]]

With DVD±RW media the used burner is really key.

My findings are similar to those by lordsmurf.

[lj01]

thanks for all the replies.

so, i've come to the conclusion i'll replace my fleet of TDK DVD-RW with Verbatim DVD+RW (after considerable debate in my head about just going with DVD-R and tossing but figuring 3 burns/years is my break-even point and i'm getting that now with the TDK so I should do better with Verbatim - i'll post results in 2015 quite possibly).

But this leaves me with another question (that might be for another forum but...) is there any way to tell if a disc will freeze/skip or otherwise cause problems when viewing before actually viewing it? Such as, i use imgburn to burn and verify a disc and sometimes it will kick out an error while verifying and i then toss the disc and start over. However, sometimes it will verify just fine and then 3 months later i go to watch it and i get freezing and irritating problems. I looked through the Tools section but didn't quite find one that would work - if anyone has any ideas or thoughts on this particular dilemma, i would be certainly interested in hearing. Thanks again for all the great replies!

[jagabo]

Try a transfer rate test with Nero DiscSpeed (a free download). If you don't get a nice and smooth graph you may have a problem.

[abcello]

DVD+RW are prone to errors -- cratering in the dye.
You'll find discs that quick working after just a few uses. Most last just a few dozen reuses on average.

DVD-RW are not as prone to flaws. I've had discs that have been reused 100+ times for almost 10 years.

I've discussed this more in depth many times in past years, on this forum and others.

You are right, Ive experienced the same thing: one of my my Verbatim 8x DVD+RWs quit working after a few rewrites, now it fails to read or write, but my Verbatim 2x, 4x, & 6x DVD-RW still get good quality burns. The Verbatim 6x DVD-RW does the best for quality.

[abcello]

[/QUOTE]You are right, Ive experienced the same thing: one of my my Verbatim 8x DVD+RWs quit working after a few rewrites, now it fails to read or write, but my Verbatim 2x, 4x, & 6x DVD-RW still get good quality burns. The Verbatim 6x DVD-RW does the best for quality.[/QUOTE]I prefer dvd-rw over dvd+rw because of the way dvd-rw does full erase with most dvd burners. DVD-RWs will usually look completely blank when look at the recording side of the disc after full erase. Full erase with DVD-RWs helps to minimize write when it is burned the next time. CD-RW & DVD+RW do not full erase like that so "full erase" will not help for them.
(the pictures are not perfect, they were done in an old scanner.