hard-copy backups

[Kurt Fitzner]

The most important thing in making archival CD backups is the dye, not
the reflective layer.  Both gold and silver are used in the reflective
layer, and both are considered to be pretty much equivalent in terms of
aging.

The best dyes to use are phthalocyanine and metal stabilized cyanine.
It's difficult to visually tell if a disc has metal stabilized cyanine
as it is the same pale color as normal cyanine, which is the worst dye
for longevity.  Phthalocyanine is a darker dye and easy to tell from
cyanine.

If you want good archival CD's, then ensure that you are getting a good
dye.  Manufacturers will sometimes change dyes even in what they label
as an archival CD in order to cut costs.


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