What is the full life of a CD-ROM?

2000/05/24 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Elektronika

The use of a CD-ROM is about to determine full life, as CD-ROMs are too new to be able to calculate or measure it.

On the one hand, CD-ROMs are an invention of a few years ago and researchers have not had enough time to investigate and understand the mechanisms of degradation of CD-ROMs. Moreover, the violent tests performed on CD-ROMs have not revealed the duration of the same. Polycarbonate and aluminum are the main components of CD-ROMs and can be damaged in various ways, for example, ultraviolet light can alter the optical properties of polycarbonate, or the mechanical properties of polycarbonate can be naturally modified or oxidized.

However, the main risk of CD-ROMs is not their deterioration but their obsolescence. In fact, at a time when new technologies develop so rapidly, CD-ROMs may become obsolete in a few years, as DVDs show.

While not yet strong on the market, DVDs are the biggest threat of CD-ROMs. The DVD works the same as the CD-ROM, but what differentiates it is the capacity: the DVD can store much more information in the same space.

The DVD also has problems because it cannot be all in favor: CD-ROM readers are not suitable for DVDs, and if you want to use the DVD you should have an independent reader. On the contrary, it is possible, that is, the DVD reader can read CD-ROM.