Archiving to SD card, yay or nay?

[7on]

I just realized that I have a bunch of files on CDs from highschool, college, etc. and was wondering about the archival quality of SD cards.

As in, do they degrade faster or slower than CDR/DVDRs? And are there other problems with them?

 

[beaner454]

I just realized that I have a bunch of files on CDs from highschool, college, etc. and was wondering about the archival quality of SD cards.

As in, do they degrade faster or slower than CDR/DVDRs? And are there other problems with them?

Pros:

Easily Rewritable
No Burning Required
Less Physical Space
Just Leave It In The Slot
Uses Less Battery Power

Cons:

Tiny & Easier to Lose
More Cost/GB


As far as the degradation I have noticed when I keep my DVD's & SD Cards safely stored away, my SD cards tend to have problems sooner. However, when I use them both regularly and with normal wear & tare the DVD's fail much sooner for me.

Personally I would go with the SD card route.

 

[Tomorrow]

SD cards are magnetic and can degrade over time - not likely, but possible. That, and they can inadvertently get wiped by a magnetic field, or ruined if they get wet.

Optical disks are forever unless the media becomes physically damaged.

 

[CJS7070]

Plus, for archiving, CDs are much easier to label in detail than SD cards are.

 

[bgd]

Optical disks are forever .....

Having struggled over the weekend to retrieve data from CDs archived about 8 years ago I'd have to disagree with this statement. No physical damage, I guess they have degraded over time.

 

[7on]

I don't think SD cards are magnetic though.

And I have see CD-Rs become unreadable in less than 4 years just sitting on a shelf. At least a couple. The plastic that forms the pits and grooves for the 1s and 0s expands overtime eventually becoming indistinguishable over each other.

 

[0098386]

Having struggled over the weekend to retrieve data from CDs archived about 8 years ago I'd have to disagree with this statement. No physical damage, I guess they have degraded over time.

Same here. I have backup CD's from 1998 that don't work anymore. They were kept in sleeves and never exposed to sunlight or water. Good quality discs too.
Some brands have survived though. Sony failed but Memorex survived.