Disc Rot

[Jamisonia]

With Laserdisc at least the only thing that causes rot is the glue holding it together begins to fails. This will happen no matter what condition the disc is stored in. I assume CD/GD/DVD/BD rot is the same.

[JC48573]

I can 100% guarantee the people that didn't see any "pin holes" in their entire collection do in fact have them. Some of the pin holes are so tiny that is so easy to miss. You think all your playstation games are fine? They're just harder to see, but they do exist. After doing a bit of research, I've decided to let this go. Why? Because it's simply not worth having that extra stress. I am certain that this pinholes are no more than imperfections and if you take good care of your discs, then the chances of disc rot is greatly reduced. Nothing lasts forever, but you can try to slow it down.

[mjmjr25]

If it were a widely held concern - the bottom would / would have / would be, dropping out of the disc market - it isn't / hasn't.

I think we are safe for the foreseeable future and I put more long-term availability on a physical disc I own than on something I "own" and have downloaded.

[Jmustang1968]

LOL, not going to happen. My electric bill would be $200 a month if I kept the apartment at that temperature.

Edit: I do keep the door to the closet cracked open a few inches. I just don't think that's enough.

a $200 electric bill is a good month for me

[CRTGAMER]

With Laserdisc at least the only thing that causes rot is the glue holding it together begins to fails. This will happen no matter what condition the disc is stored in. I assume CD/GD/DVD/BD rot is the same.

Just the Laser Discs have the glue/coolant rot problems, a corrosion that takes place between the two halves. As an owner of over 400 Laser discs kept inside the house, I have made numerous return exchanges back to Tower Video back in the day. A hit or miss which Laser Discs deteriorate over the years. I would say the hit rate of bad Laser Discs is 1 in 50.

Most of the other disc formats are single sided so there is no glue/coolant rot issues. Two sided DVDs were manufactured years later and use a different process so few have the same type of rot situation.

[wip3outguy7]

LOL, not going to happen. My electric bill would be $200 a month if I kept the apartment at that temperature.

Edit: I do keep the door to the closet cracked open a few inches. I just don't think that's enough.

a $200 electric bill is a good month for me

For a 650 sq ft, single bedroom apartment?

[Jmustang1968]

LOL, not going to happen. My electric bill would be $200 a month if I kept the apartment at that temperature.

Edit: I do keep the door to the closet cracked open a few inches. I just don't think that's enough.

a $200 electric bill is a good month for me

For a 650 sq ft, single bedroom apartment?

Haha nope, I have a 2700 sq ft house. I am happy when it is lower 200s lol

[01toubib]

What gaming systems should we look for the Disk rot? I can't find any in my PS2/360, but I guess they're too new. I looked at my old PC games (my oldest one being 1997) and couldn't find anything either.

Also will this effect blu-ray disks?

[Hazerd]

Blu-ray discs will last for alot longer than CD/DVD due to the extra glass-like coating it has, i mean you can scratch the hell out of a blu-ray and it will still run great.

[Gunstar Green]

I've been pretty lucky, I never had this occur with a video game. I have however had it with a few cheaply produced movie DVDs which is why I feel poor manufacturing is probably a big risk factor.

Edit: Spoke too soon, just checked over my Dreamcast games and my disk 1 of Skies of Arcadia has a little pinhole. Disheartening. It seems to be pretty prevalent in Dreamcast GD-Roms. I don't think this is because of mishandling or even age. Many of them were probably damaged during the mastering process and had the pin hole since they were brand new. That doesn't make it any less unfortunate sadly but it does mean it probably wasn't caused by the elements but physical abuse, even if a game is brand new in the shrink wrap it doesn't mean it didn't suffer a bit in the production process. The rot I've experienced with cheap DVDs is a bit different and had resulted in destroyed disks that were practically eaten alive.

If you have minor disk rot, like a single hole, your games should still work fine for a long time assuming you store them properly and treat them well.

Edit: Also, Texas is a pretty huge state. The climate can vary pretty radically from area to area. I lived in Houston for most of my childhood and 20s. While it was extremely humid there, I could get away with running the A/C less on average than what seems to be required to stay comfortable here in Austin.

Yikes, I'm from Pennsylvania but my girlfriend is originally from south of Houston in Lake Jackson (where Dow Chemical is). I've visited her family there a few times and the humidity is killer. It would be hard to keep anything corrosion free for very long in that.