Digital BW, The Print

You guys talk about the use of "gold" media, as if it were the panacia
for long term storage. The reflective layer is but one source of
problems for CD's & DVD's!

If you have read any of the reports on this problem, you will notice
that the greatest weakness of the media is the dye that is used to
create the dots! I believe there are three kinds of dyes used the the
manufacture of the disks. Two of them are rather unstable, the third
seems to have pretty good life. (I don't have the actual data
available here at home)

The other sources of failure are ply separation, deformation due to
heat and various failures of the reflective layer.

Good storage practices are the best way of preventing data loss of
disks. This means keeping the disks at constant room temperature, and
out of exposure to light. 

The most important procedure, not to overlook, is keeping your fingers
crossed. ;-)

Your best bet is having multiple back-up stragegies--Hard disks and
CD/DVD/s. Heard reports that Google is talking having free back-up
type program at some time in the future.

John Nollendorfs