How long (on average) is the life of a CD?

Question

For example, I burned a CD with photographs on it. How many years will it last? My mother told me that someone told her 10 years. I find this hard to believe...I thought that they would last a lot longer since they are practically indestructible! I thought a printed photograph might last 10 years, but a CD much longer.

Answer 1

Get real folks! Using a cheap CD from Office Depot, Walmart, or anywhere else, you're looking at 2 to 3 years tops! Do a google search on "archival CD" and prepare to be awakened! The regular CD material oxidizes no matter what (I don't know the efficacy of storing them in a vacuum).
Check out this website for one mans opinion:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/sm-05-09-04.shtml

Answer 2

I was originally under the impression that CD's lasted a hundred years but then I read up on it. CD's come in all different grades and are also different in longevity per manufacturer, as someone stated above. Unfortunatly there is no way to regulate or rate the quality of a CD at this point, so you may buy from a great company, but get a CD that deteriorates after 5 years. Also, there is CD rot - basically the data on the CD will begin to rot away and grow mold if kept in humid conditions.

So, to be on the safe side I would say estimate the life of a CD to be no more than 10 years. Always back up your data!

Answer 3

The life expectancy (LE) of optical discs depends on many factors, some controllable by the user, others not.

Factors that affect disc life expectancy include the following:

type
manufacturing quality
condition of the disc before recording
quality of the disc recording
handling and maintenance
environmental conditions

Answer 4

Theoretically, (I don't remember this very well) it should last a either 75 yrs. or around 200 years.

Answer 5

there is no avarage,any where from ten minutes to 100 years depend on what happens to them.

Answer 6

it also depends on where u keep them.. n how u take care of it! =))