The Tragedy of Writable DVD

[Eli]

Watching the present tragedy with writable DVDs, I don't think
the storage industry cares....

Arno, would you explain this statement or provide some links?

Thanks.

 

[Rod Speed]

Arno, would you explain this statement

He's been obsessed about that for years now.

With no basis for it what so ever.

or provide some links?

There arent any to provide.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Arno, would you explain this statement or provide some links?

My priary source ist the ongoing series of tests in the very competent
german computer magazine c't. The last one (last month) found that
only 70% of all burns were o.k. with the most compatible burners.
Other burners managed only 50% sucess rate. (It was a pretty extensive
tests with several burners and lots of medias. The burn quality was
assessed with professional equipment.) Then there is the problem that
you cannot tell what manufacturer are writeble DVDs from before you
have them in your burner and sometimes even then. There is the problem
with the lifetime of the data.

The underlying flaw is that the standardisation is so weak that
burner manufacturers actually have to test different media
and preprogram the burn parameters in the firmware. No surprise
this often does not work.

IMO writable DVDs (exception: DVD-RAM, they have a very clear and
strict ISO standard) are unusable for any type of professional
work, unless you spend a lot of time on finding some specific
media that work well for your specific burner. Usable, reliable
storage it should not matter what you buy in media and burners
(except with regard to write speed and capacity), burning should
succees 99.9% of the time and you should not need to worry about
the data for at least a few years. All the flash media fullfil
this. HDDs fulfill this. DAV-RAM, MOD, professional tape fulfill
this. Buying a burnder and burnable DVDs is a gamble every time.
And even if you identify a specific brand, that works well, the
vndor may change suppliers and you are screwed again.

Arno

 

[Arno Wagner]

Arno, would you explain this statement or provide some links?

P.S.: Link to an abstract of the last article for c't (sorry,
geman only):

http://www.heise.de/ct/05/14/094/

Arno

 

[Rod Speed]

My priary source ist the ongoing series of tests in the very competent
german computer magazine c't. The last one (last month) found that
only 70% of all burns were o.k. with the most compatible burners.

He's completely mangling what that magazine actually said.

They never said that the best burners produce 30% bad DVDs.

Other burners managed only 50% sucess rate. (It was a pretty
extensive tests with several burners and lots of medias. The
burn quality was assessed with professional equipment.)

And thats an entirely different thing to whether the data
is actually fine with duplicate DVDs used for backup.

And if you are as hung up on reliability as he is, you need
to use DVD-RAM anyway, not the other DVD formats.

Then there is the problem that you cannot tell what
manufacturer are writeble DVDs from before you
have them in your burner and sometimes even then.

That sentance doesnt even make sense in english.

There is the problem with the lifetime of the data.

The same claim was made with CDs and in
practice they are fine for backup when done right.

The underlying flaw is that the standardisation is so weak
that burner manufacturers actually have to test different
media and preprogram the burn parameters in the firmware.

Utterly mangled all over again. Pity about DVD-RAM.

No surprise this often does not work.
Lie.

IMO writable DVDs (exception: DVD-RAM, they have a very
clear and strict ISO standard) are unusable for any type of
professional work, unless you spend a lot of time on finding
some specific media that work well for your specific burner.

And the reality is that not much time is required for that at all.

Usable, reliable storage it should not matter what
you buy in media and burners (except with regard
to write speed and capacity), burning should succees
99.9% of the time and you should not need to
worry about the data for at least a few years.

Pity about the real world.

All the flash media fullfil this.

Pity about the cost.

HDDs fulfill this.

Pity about the cost.

DAV-RAM,

So his original was a lie.

MOD, professional tape fulfill this.

Pity about the cost.

Buying a burnder and burnable DVDs is a gamble every time.
Lie.

And even if you identify a specific brand, that works well,
the vndor may change suppliers and you are screwed again.

Its completely trivial for anyone with a clue to check the media ID with DVDs.

 

[Rod Speed]

P.S.: Link to an abstract of the last article for c't (sorry, geman only):

http://www.heise.de/ct/05/14/094/

http://tinyurl.com/dtnsv