Disc Rot

[aoiddr]

Interesting article about Disc Rot from this month...
http://tedium.co/2017/02/02/disc-rot-phenomenon/
(And Nintendo Life did a follow-up article arguing for emulation.)

This is actually one of those topics that I tend to just run and hide from. I don't even want to think about it or just how many discs I have in my collection have might this problem.

I know I have at least one disc that's disc rotted...and it's a copy of The Ring (DVD) that I bought on release date and watched once and later went back to do some screen caps from only to discover it had rotted away in its case. Creepy that it was that movie that spontaneously oxidized after one viewing.

 

[Rot]

This thread title is misleading...

 

[ki_atsushi]

The company’s findings, which went against prevailing theories of the time that CDs were indestructible, blamed the problems on improper dyes that reduced the quality of the discs

Retail discs are pressed, not burned. There is no dye to go bad in those discs.

 

[sylvie]

im scared

 

[ki_atsushi]

Your time was just wasted by Ernie Smith

At least he acknowledges it.

 

[NeoSneth]

Yeah. This is really only a problem for burned discs.

This is still an important topic as a lot of people have archived documents on burned CD's. They'd be better off on Zip Disks. I've already encountered a lot of burned CD's going bad.

 

[FAT$TACKS]

I've a few laserdiscs that show artifacts and such when played. Is that the same kind of thing?

 

[NeoSneth]

I've a few laserdiscs that show artifacts and such when played. Is that the same kind of thing?

colloquially this is called "rot", but it's not the same as the article.
This is due to microbes eating the glue and/or poor adhesive methods.

 

[ki_atsushi]

Yeah. This is really only a problem for burned discs.

This is still an important topic as a lot of people have archived documents on burned CD's. They'd be better off on Zip Disks. I've already encountered a lot of burned CD's going bad.

I wouldn't go that far, I've heard many a story of zip disks going bad too. The best thing to do is buy archival quality CD's (Gold discs) and store them in a dry environment. Investing in cans of rechargeable silica gel is a good idea. As long as it's dry, the fungus (which is really what destroys CD's) won't grow on them.

It's a serious problem in the photography world as well. Fungus even eats the anti-reflective coatings on camera lenses and digital sensors, it will even etch the glass of a lens if left on too long.

 

[wingzrow]

colloquially this is called "rot", but it's not the same as the article.

This is due to microbes eating the glue and/or poor adhesive methods.

If I recall correctly, it only affects Laserdiscs from certain pressing factories. There is not a single copy of Willow that does not have rot at this point. One of the Ace venture movies too.

 

[Fritz]

colloquially this is called "rot", but it's not the same as the article.
This is due to microbes eating the glue and/or poor adhesive methods.

You are not buying it for factory pressed CD's though? That article makes it out to be fire and brimstone with our sega cd, sega, turbo duo games all rotting away in the very near future.

 

[CORY]

This thread needs moar Rot pics.

 

[ki_atsushi]

You are not buying it for factory pressed CD's though? That article makes it out to be fire and brimstone with our sega cd, sega, turbo duo games all rotting away in the very near future.

It happens, but not for the reason the author states. There is no dye layer that will go bad in retail discs.

Fungus can eat those though, same as just about any other material in a humid climate. One other problem is adhesives that can break down, which is mention in the article. Many DVD's and 2-sided Laserdiscs are actually two plastic discs glued together with a clear adhesive. If the adhesive breaks down, you're fucked.

If you handle your stuff properly and keep your environment dry, your discs can outlast you. This article has blown it way out of proportion.

 

[ChuChu Flamingo]

The real problem is the reflective layer not being there and seeing pinholes. I still think a decent majority of this can be attributed to people storing their cds in carry cases (common as hell back then) and storing in hot/humid/cold conditions that aren't consistent.

That is not to say there aren't bad quality pressed cds, but even back then from the factory there were bad batches and could've been there from the start. I've had this so called pinhole on a few of my bluray games and even WII U (in the middle so no data) and they all install fine and i've played them extensively.Only just recently are people holding up their disc to the light for pinholes when they were probably there from the beginning.

In any case, just another reason for cartridge superiority.

 

[JoeAwesome]

I've seen retail discs, even games, get disc rot, but I'm unsure of the exact circumstances that caused it in each case. No, I haven't looked into it in depth, but I think it's real. It's just not some massive plague waiting to happen all at once.

 

[ki_atsushi]

The real problem is the reflective layer not being there and seeing pinholes. I still think a decent majority of this can be attributed to people storing their cds in carry cases (common as hell back then) and storing in hot/humid/cold conditions that aren't consistent.

That is not to say there aren't bad quality pressed cds, but even back then from the factory there were bad batches and could've been there from the start. I've had this so called pinhole on a few of my bluray games and even WII U (in the middle so no data) and they all install fine and i've played them extensively.Only just recently are people holding up their disc to the light for pinholes when they were probably there from the beginning.

In any case, just another reason for cartridge superiority.

Yeah, factory defect pinholes are often just in the reflective layer and don't affect the pits and lands of a retail disc or dye layer of a CD-R (the actual data). The reason that missing reflective layer is a problem is because it helps the CD drive's laser focus on the data layer.

Simple fix as long as long as the data layer is unharmed: take a silver sharpie and draw in the affected area. If the disc is scratched through too deeply you're fucked though, because gouges under that reflective layer are directly into the data layer of the disc.

 

[Tripredacus]

I have only seen degredation to a couple types of discs. CD-Rs that I have burned get a weird color to them. And then Saturn and Dreamcast games where the top part (disc artwork) splits and flakes off and the disc is not readable. My MvC on Dreamcast is the best example I know of this happening, one day the artwork just came off in a bunch of places.

 

[ki_atsushi]

I have only seen degredation to a couple types of discs. CD-Rs that I have burned get a weird color to them. And then Saturn and Dreamcast games where the top part (disc artwork) splits and flakes off and the disc is not readable. My MvC on Dreamcast is the best example I know of this happening, one day the artwork just came off in a bunch of places.

Yeah, I've seen weird things happen to CD-R's left in cars over long, hot periods of time, it fucks with the dye and can make them unreadable.

Working Designs games are notorious for paint chipping (can take off the reflective layer with it too ), those fancy artworks painted on the discs are fragile. They should have lacquered over them.

 

[fake]

I have lots of discs. (The best discs.) And I've never had a problem with disc rot. I'm not going to worry about it, short of keeping my stuff in good condition and not leaving stuff on the floor, in my car, etc.

 

[Wachenroder]

yeah CDR are shit. i had MANY if spindles that just completely rotted out for seemingly no reason. All of them arent created equal but for sure some of them seem more prone to rot

 

[famicommander]

All my SEGA CD, Saturn, Neo CD, 3DO, PS1, and CD-i games still work (so far).

As far as Laserdiscs go, most discs that were ever going to "rot" (see above comments re: what is actually going on) have already done so. I've never had a Laserdisc that worked when I got it stop working. I got a lot of my collection from my mom's friend when she finally bought a Blu Ray player, and she had been on board since the format got big in the mid 80s. And none of the discs that survived the first 5-10 years have ever stopped working.

 

[bloodycelt]

Yeah, I've seen weird things happen to CD-R's left in cars over long, hot periods of time, it fucks with the dye and can make them unreadable.

Working Designs games are notorious for paint chipping (can take off the reflective layer with it too ), those fancy artworks painted on the discs are fragile. They should have lacquered over them.

Wow that would suck if someone put their Lunar in a PS3 suction drive and it flaked...

 

[Syn]

Wow that would suck if someone put their Lunar in a PS3 suction drive and it flaked...

I have a God of War PS3 so I won't have that problem.

 

[SpamYouToDeath]

I've had this so called pinhole on a few of my bluray games and even WII U (in the middle so no data) and they all install fine and i've played them extensively.Only just recently are people holding up their disc to the light for pinholes when they were probably there from the beginning.

A sufficiently short defect will be reliably covered by the error-correcting codes in the system. For CD, you're nominally fine losing up to 2.5mm. I haven't looked into DVD/BD, but they're probably better.

 

[Westcb]

I got ps1 burns from the 90s that all play fine and have not been stored in ideal conditions. (Binders, in areas with high humidity etc..) I also have several HD-DVDs that won't play even some I just unwrapped the shrink wrap on and found several people have had this problem. Those discs are not ink based as far as I know and many have quit working for Me. Maybe the terminology is wrong but several retail discs have shit the bed in this format. Some consistencies though were all mine that were bad were dual layered and most were made by Warner Bros. so I guess a mfr with crappy manufacturing can cause disc rot on even pressed discs.