I've got CD's going back to 1994, they still work perfectly, but then I store them correctly and only use them when I really need to, I catalogue all my files and CD's so that I can find the image I want without having to subject the disks to strenuous searches and handling. For most people I would think infrequent use for stored images is the norm. I have several hundred CD's with images and other data on them, I haven't lost a disk yet unless I did something stupid myself. I now use DVD-R disks, been using them for about 18 month's now, no problem so far! In the last ten years I think I've probably gone through 8 or 9 of my own hard drives, some of which cost a fortune when they first came out. I've lost many files and images from hard drive crashes and breakdowns over the years. I'll continue using DVD-R until the next generation of high definition disks become available at sensible prices. I keep a couple of old computers in my loft, fully set up and able to run any of the disks I have at present, all my images are saved as TIFF files so any of the graphics programs, past, present and future will handle them. I also have a couple of spare DVD reader drives in case of emergency (cost £11.50 each new), these are adequate for reading any of the files or images I own and will keep me going for years to come.
nirofo.
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