Archival Gold DVD's

<p>Wondering if anyone could point me to a good source for archival gold dvds (or cds).<br>

Thanks in advance!</p>

<p>Evan:<br>

"Delkin" is the name that usually pops up when this question is asked. They claim a (simulated) 300year lifespan for their products.</p>

<p>Just a general question here, I've watched CD's and DVD'd being made and they are clear to start with. A color backing is applied mainly so you can see the CD/DVD, just a clear plastic disk doesn't look very good.</p>

<p>Can anyone tell me how the color, specifically the color gold, makes it archival?</p>

<p>Jim Marby</p>

<p>The gold is the reflective layer. All CD's and DVD's require some sort of reflective layer. The layer may only be reflective for certain wavelengths and transparent to others. But gold is not supposed to tarnish or deteriorate over a long time span.</p>

<p>As for me I would much prefer a DVD as an archival media. CD's have the reflective layer very close to the label side and it is easily damaged. Scratches on the clear side are somewhat tolerated, but not on the reflective side.</p>

<p>DVD's have an extra polycarbonate layer above the reflective layer. This provides more protection to the very critical reflective layer.</p>

<p>Here are a couple of sites that discuss the materials used and the archival properties. <br>

Gold is good because it doesn't oxidize, one of the reasons for disk failures.</p>

<p>http://macdatasecurity.com/s02.html</p>

<p>http://www.techlore.com/article/10284/Understanding-Blank-Write-Once-CD--amp--DVD-Media/?textpage=1</p>

<p>Peter</p>

<p>just make sure that they are indeed gold and not just "gold colored"...<br>

some of these dvds look like gold but they are not...</p>

<p>Delkin makes archival Gold DVDs that have a printable white front. These are what we use. The life span for the archival DVDs is claimed to be 100 years, not 300 (those are the CD-ROMs).</p>

<p>They are available through a number of sources ... I use B&H Photo in NYC.</p>

<p>No one knows for sure that any of this will last as long as claimed, or even a percentage of what is claimed. They haven't been around that long. </p>

<p>The reflective surface of a DVD is one source of failure or not, with Gold being a surface that doesn't tarnish. However, another source of failure of a DVD is "de-lamination" ... one of my advertising clients was a tech lab doing tests on DVDs and de-lamination. All products they tested eventually de-laminated and were rendered useless ... which made me pretty nervous. </p>