Over the years, I've occasionally had to retrieve data from backups I've made to CD or DVD.
All these backup media were burned with extra care (at low speeds, not always with high-end media but never with the cheapest crap either) and almost always with the burning program's double-check option turned on.
However, every time I had to search through some CDs or DVDs a couple of years later, there were shockingly many occurrences of data corruption on a shockingly high number of the media.
I managed to work around the corruptions so no serious damage was done (as they would usually span only across a few sectors, or whatever they are called on CDs/dvds), but is this a normal rate of decay for CDs/DVDs? Does the storage method influence the media's longevity? I usually store them in soft plastic pouches. Could chemicals permeating from those pouches be the problem?
- Is there a way to prevent decay of CDs/DVDs? Is this a brand issue, with cheap media decaying faster?