Is there a product that protects CD's / Game Discs in there cases Longterm?

[landstalker]

Hello guys.

I was wondering, does anyone know of anything that protects CDs longterm in their cases.
Silica Gel is used to remove moisture.
is there anything that protects CDs, something that can sit around the discs whilst in their cases to delay disc rot / and general wear of discs.
Anything anyone has seen or come across.

Its something I am looking into / Wondered if anyone else had seen anything, allot of people have CD bases games and a majority of newer will last almost forever, but it's for older disc bases games.

Thanks in advance.

Landstalker.

[bikingjahuty]

Disc rot is mostly a boogy man among neurotic collectors. Yes, it is real, but it is far rarer than what's reported online, and there is a lot of bad information about it online. From what I've read it's an issue that most impacts really early CDs given the way they were printed. In terms of video games that are prone to it, I've pretty much only seen it be a somewhat common issue on old PC CD-Roms, and Sega CD games.


Pretty much storing your games in a cool, dry climate is going to be your best bet, disc rot or not. I live in a part of the country that is both of these most of the year so I'm not too worried about it. I imagine if you live somewhere like Florida or places in the midwest you might want to consider using a dehumidifier and making sure the room your games are in doesn't fluctuate in temperature dramatically on a regular basis. Also, obvious make sure you aren't exposing your games to liquid, direct sunlight/UV light, or leaving them out of their case or in the console for long periods.


I understand the anxiety of having a massive collection of disc based games and worried about them deteriorating over time, but most CDs printed after the early 90s are probably going to be fine for a very long time. They won't last forever, but I wouldn't worry about every game in your collection rotting into oblivion in 10-years.

[oldgamerz]

Disc rot is mostly a boogy man among neurotic collectors. Yes, it is real, but it is far rarer than what's reported online, and there is a lot of bad information about it online. From what I've read it's an issue that most impacts really early CDs given the way they were printed. In terms of video games that are prone to it, I've pretty much only seen it be a somewhat common issue on old PC CD-Roms, and Sega CD games.


Pretty much storing your games in a cool, dry climate is going to be your best bet, disc rot or not. I live in a part of the country that is both of these most of the year so I'm not too worried about it. I imagine if you live somewhere like Florida or places in the midwest you might want to consider using a dehumidifier and making sure the room your games are in doesn't fluctuate in temperature dramatically on a regular basis. Also, obvious make sure you aren't exposing your games to liquid, direct sunlight/UV light, or leaving them out of their case or in the console for long periods.


I understand the anxiety of having a massive collection of disc based games and worried about them deteriorating over time, but most CDs printed after the early 90s are probably going to be fine for a very long time. They won't last forever, but I wouldn't worry about every game in your collection rotting into oblivion in 10-years.

@bikingjahuty has some great advice

I found that most of my PS1 PS2 Xbox, Xbox360 GameCube and Wii games are ok (no rot) but, I've lost a lot of  PlayStation 3 games due to rot. I live in the north eastern midwest and around here? we get a lot of Music CD's that have rot on them especially at some of the good will places,

As far a protecting CD's goes and to help answer @landstalker, I'd say keep your CD's in a case (not a CD Wallet), and don't leave them out or like @bikingjahuty said and mentioned don't leave the games in the open

And the biggest tip of all that I can give from experience is don't play games that have a ton of scratches in them because your console laser reader will have to work harder to read the discs even if it don't skip, I'd get all badly scratched CD/DVD's resurfaced.



 I used to play PC games all the time, when the PC computer game would run directly off the disc like most consoles do. and my childhood CD games were vary scratched and I needed to replace my CD rom drive vary often because of my carelessness

[sworddude]

it's very rare most cases of disc rot if it happens are with very terrible condition discs. even with older sega cd based games it's not common at all from what I've seen. if it's in a shit condition way higher odds of disc rot. I think the thought of disc rot is more damaging to some collectors who worry allot than the actual disc rot itselves.

There are articles that say that storing discs in a fridge will increase their life up till 500 years. a bit extreme imo but really cool temperatures are a thing.

as far as storage goes some people store their games within plastic containers trying to keep those pretty much air tight to prevent oxygen making contact with the disc.

I'm not to sure when disc rot might have an effect but if I had to guess most of us would probably be dead when that happens for someone to notice them older cd games to break down. ps1 and up those are way more durable than the sega ones.

Console discs even early sega cd ones are more durable than music or pc cd's or especially normal back up cd's to be used allot. really hard to tell how long these items will last. vhs for example should have died years ago yet majoriy still working today. also disc rot doesnt happen over night so if there isnt any disc rot yet it can take quite a long time before it happens.

Speaking of the US though. it is a country with a ton of climate variation

I'd guess if one where to live in them very hots spots like texas/ vegas or say a very moist climate like Florida than the odds might actually increase allot. I'm guessing for people who live in a country  with a more moderate climate not to hot not to cold rarely experience disc rot compared to insanely hot or very tropical spots. but even than in such spots i really wonder how high those odds actually are I'd imagine still really low since even at such spots not that many people who complain about disc rot.

[Warmsignal]

I use silica gel packs near my game collections to help keep things dry, also video game box protectors as much as possible for good measure, but also because I think they present better that way. For the record, I've owned games, movies, and music on disc since the late 90s and never had a good working copy stop working.

[landstalker]

I did read that disc rot, was a factor before I think it was 1993.
So all games before that date, and it was something to do solely with the manufacturing process and them not using the correct or enough of the chemicals needed for the discs.
People are right it is well over hyped,

someone shows a game disc with rot on a specific platform and everyone starts to panic.
I am learning more and more though as I go along and it definitely seems disc rot is top top end severe stage.

3DO /Saturn /Sega MegaCD.
These and others where before 1993 and a majority of the discs are still good.

A few posts here have certainly re assured me as to the direction I thought it was.

[hoshichiri]

My understanding is- disc rot is, most commonly, a result of defects from the disc's manufacturing- a bit of air or dirt that got caught inside the layers of the disc & breaks down the data layer from the inside. This is why it tends to be more common on earlier discs, from before standards for manufacturing were refined- but it can happen to any disc.

Becuase the offending bit of crud is, literally, a part of the disc itself, you can't really stop disc rot. All the above advice- use a proper case, cool dry environment, etc. are good to be doing regardless- these prevent the disc from being damaged due to preventable measures. Otherwise? If it's gonna go, it'll go- there's nothing you can really do about it.

By my experience, even if you've got early signs of possible rot, there's a good likelihood your game will continue to work for years to come- I've got more than one disc with clouding or even pinholes, and so far nothing's actually failed. You might seek out a better condition replacement if it's a favorite- but beside that, you shouldn't sweat it too much. Just take care of your stuff in general. Scratches or heat damage will kill your game way faster than rot ever will!

[tripredacus]

AGAIN, "disc rot" as originally coined, was a term relating to pressing errors that occured during the manufacturing of some LaserDiscs in from specific pressing plants. While the original definition and symptoms of disc rot are still valid, the general public has turned it into a xerox or kleenex issue, using this term as a generic term to cover all disc wear issues. Specifically, disc rot relates to the organic compounds in LaserDiscs decaying due to exposure to atmosphere due to the discs not being properly sealed by the pressers. The only other "common" types of optical media that can experience disc rot are organic dye recordables (CD/DVD/BD/R) and the FlexPlay discs.

All of the other defects and aging that occur with optical media are not disc rot unless they contain organic materials and the sealant is damaged. Pinholes and reflective layer flaking (such as can be found on music CD, Sega CD/Saturn/Dreamcast and CD-ROM are different types of wear that can occur. Bronzing on recordable media (that which has organic dye) are undergoing a process similar to disc rot. Bronzing on non-organic (pressed) media is not.

I do wonder what will OLED TVs look like in 10-20 years once those start to naturally decay.

[landstalker]

Admin thanks for that reply, that has not only made me more confident but has explained this reasoning behind disc rot that people seem to throw around.
I know a few people who have used the term in the sense that a clean very good condition disc will end up getting disc rot holes.
Very handy to know / I was a Sega Megadrive PAL collector, so I never used to have this ever arise with carts.

Kind regards.
Landstalker.

[hoshichiri]

AGAIN, "disc rot" as originally coined, was a term relating to pressing errors that occured during the manufacturing of some LaserDiscs in from specific pressing plants. While the original definition and symptoms of disc rot are still valid, the general public has turned it into a xerox or kleenex issue, using this term as a generic term to cover all disc wear issues. Specifically, disc rot relates to the organic compounds in LaserDiscs decaying due to exposure to atmosphere due to the discs not being properly sealed by the pressers. The only other "common" types of optical media that can experience disc rot are organic dye recordables (CD/DVD/BD/R) and the FlexPlay discs.

All of the other defects and aging that occur with optical media are not disc rot unless they contain organic materials and the sealant is damaged. Pinholes and reflective layer flaking (such as can be found on music CD, Sega CD/Saturn/Dreamcast and CD-ROM are different types of wear that can occur. Bronzing on recordable media (that which has organic dye) are undergoing a process similar to disc rot. Bronzing on non-organic (pressed) media is not.

I do wonder what will OLED TVs look like in 10-20 years once those start to naturally decay.

*takes notes* Good stuff to know.

I assume this changes nothing about disc care, however- proper case & temperature/humidity should keep a disc going until it naturally decays, & there's not much to be done about said decay? Obviously I want to do right by my media, so if there's something I can do to care for it better I'm very interested!

Did they ever settle the vertical vs. horizontal storage thing? I remember that being a debate years ago- 'hortizontal storage puts pressure on the disc & damages the data later', 'vertical storage puts pressure on the hub & causes warping', that kinda thing.

[tripredacus]

The problem with CD optical media is that the reflective layer is often on the top of the disc. So the CD based media like Sega CD, Saturn, music CD (probably also Playstation but they are more resilient to damage for some reason) can be damaged easily. Moisture or temperature changes can cause the top layer to flake. Even a scratch to the top of a CD can make it unusable. This problem was solved with DVDs, where the data and reflective layers are in between the two plastic discs. So a scratch to a DVD label is not the end of the world.

This is what a water damaged CD looks like. Notice that the reflective layer is severely flaked. It isn't particular visible (because this was a scan with white background) but this CD's reflective layer is mostly missing, it is more transparent than a Blu-Ray disc. I kept it only because of what it is and kick myself for not backing up the MPQ files


Not sure about the stacking limits. I would imagine that no one should have stacks taller than you would see in a professional application. Such as, what is the stack limit on CD/DVD-R spindles, or in the industrial copiers? You would never store a disc horizontal where the pressure point is the edge, in that case, yes that is bad... BUT only if the damage occurs in the data area. I have CDs that have chunks missing from the edges but still work because data is not present there. All pressure points for optical media should be either the inner part of the ring or the hub portion.