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 Go To | CD-ROM Storage | CD-ROM Lifetime |

If I can't tell by looking at the disc, is there any other way to determine quality ?

One could purchase expensive test equipment and environmental aging chambers to test your discs, but the best way may be to just ask your supplier. Every disc manufacturer should have done design studies on, and have a data package for their discs. They should at least know the starting error rates of their discs and how they might increase over time. The manufacturer should be able to show you Statistical Process Control (SPC) charts monitoring the quality of these important variables. More advanced vendors will have done a complete accelerated lifetime test and should be able to give you a lifetime expectancy report. Be careful when someone gives you a lifetime number, but has no data to back it up. No one can tell what the lifetime will be without doing the testing. Finally, the most competent disc manufacturers will do ongoing tests to make sure that the lifetime numbers are consistent over time.

Go to:
Are CD's going bad?
What we've done to make our discs last?
What's the lifetime of our CD-ROM?
I thought CDs were indestructible?
Will my discs wear out?
Do some CDs become unreadable in time?
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What causes degradation in CDs?
Can I determine disc quality by looking at it?
How is disc quality determined?
Can I get more information on this study?
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