Backing Up / CD Burn / Corrupt Files

[Donna Downey Old Account]

I have been using a CD burner to back up my photo files. I did make a few coasters before I seemed to find the right combination but now have a more troubling problem.

I backed up three cds of jpeg files... no error messages... put the cds in my portable to copy to make a slideshow... a number of image files were unreadable... have tried slowing down the burn rate... still there are unreadable files. What troubles me is I didn't get any type of error message when I was copying the files. Now I am concerned that all of my backups, that I haven't needed yet, might be corrupt as well.

Please offer help or suggestions for where I can research and alleviate this problem... I'm very nervous about this.

Several of my software vendors (I'm a CPA) are suggesting CD backups for program software and data files... If I can't depend on the files this is really frustrating.

All assistance and suggestions are very much appreciated.

--
Donna

 

[SeanU]

Donna,

When you create a CD, the software may have an option to verify the CD after it is created. This does a bit by bit comparison, and will let you know if there is a problem. It will take longer to create the CD, but it is woth it. I personally use CDRWin from http://www.goldenhawk.com for all of my CD burning which has this option. Also, not all cd's/burners are created equally. You may want to try a higher quality CD (like Kodak Ultra) for your important files.

Sean

 

[J2D2]

I have been using a CD burner to back up my photo files. I did
make a few coasters before I seemed to find the right combination
but now have a more troubling problem.

I backed up three cds of jpeg files... no error messages... put the
cds in my portable to copy to make a slideshow... a number of image
files were unreadable... have tried slowing down the burn rate...
still there are unreadable files. What troubles me is I didn't get
any type of error message when I was copying the files. Now I am
concerned that all of my backups, that I haven't needed yet, might
be corrupt as well.

Please offer help or suggestions for where I can research and
alleviate this problem... I'm very nervous about this.

Several of my software vendors (I'm a CPA) are suggesting CD
backups for program software and data files... If I can't depend on
the files this is really frustrating.

All assistance and suggestions are very much appreciated.

--
Donna

-----------------------------

Not wishing to be a scare monger, I must say that I too, have had similar problems. The worrying thing is this....... After a few corrupted images appeared, I took to immediately checking all new backup CD's as they were created. There were no problems. Coming back to them 4 months later however, 10% are corrupted! I know this is impossible, but its happening!

LJC (UK).

 

[Chaman]

I have had the same problem, I believe that the culprit is the bad quality of the CD media that we pay next to nothing for. Since I changed brand (5 months) I had no problem. If you can find KODAK GOLD they are probably the best but they are hard to find. I think that they have stopped making them. Next to that MITSUI GOLD is a top quality CD, Mitsui silver and Taiyo Yuden are also good quality archival CDs.

I have been using a CD burner to back up my photo files. I did
make a few coasters before I seemed to find the right combination
but now have a more troubling problem.

I backed up three cds of jpeg files... no error messages... put the
cds in my portable to copy to make a slideshow... a number of image
files were unreadable... have tried slowing down the burn rate...
still there are unreadable files. What troubles me is I didn't get
any type of error message when I was copying the files. Now I am
concerned that all of my backups, that I haven't needed yet, might
be corrupt as well.

Please offer help or suggestions for where I can research and
alleviate this problem... I'm very nervous about this.

Several of my software vendors (I'm a CPA) are suggesting CD
backups for program software and data files... If I can't depend on
the files this is really frustrating.

All assistance and suggestions are very much appreciated.

--
Donna

-----------------------------
Not wishing to be a scare monger, I must say that I too, have had
similar problems. The worrying thing is this....... After a few
corrupted images appeared, I took to immediately checking all new
backup CD's as they were created. There were no problems. Coming
back to them 4 months later however, 10% are corrupted! I know this
is impossible, but its happening!

LJC (UK).
---------------------------------

--
Chaman

 

[Basil G]

I've been burning CDs with my photos for several years and
have encountered the same problems. Here some thoughts that may help.

1) CD-writer is old enough and doesn't work with new (and very cheap)CDs
2) CD-writer is not so old, but is dusted (laser cleaning helped me once)
3) You should use CD where the maximum assured burning speed specified
and set the speed in your software
4) Use Roxio Easy CD Creator 5.0 ))
5) Read back the freshly burned CD to your HDD for the easiest check
6) Once I could read back a CD-R only until it warmed up in the CD-drive.
7) The burning speed should be not less than XX for definite types of CDs

Memorex CDs are quite good for me. Never failed

I have been using a CD burner to back up my photo files. I did
make a few coasters before I seemed to find the right combination
but now have a more troubling problem.

I backed up three cds of jpeg files... no error messages... put the
cds in my portable to copy to make a slideshow... a number of image
files were unreadable... have tried slowing down the burn rate...
still there are unreadable files. What troubles me is I didn't get
any type of error message when I was copying the files. Now I am
concerned that all of my backups, that I haven't needed yet, might
be corrupt as well.

Please offer help or suggestions for where I can research and
alleviate this problem... I'm very nervous about this.

Several of my software vendors (I'm a CPA) are suggesting CD
backups for program software and data files... If I can't depend on
the files this is really frustrating.

All assistance and suggestions are very much appreciated.

--
Donna

 

[Donna Downey Old Account]

Thanks for the suggestions... it seems you all are having similar problems. I am going to try to find the Kodak Gold (or other better quality CD). I have been using a Verbatim DataLife Plus.

I did try the verify on one CD (the first one of the three Cds) and it said there were numerous errors in a number of the files but I was able to copy and use all of the files on that CD.

This is very disconcerting.

Thank you all for your suggestions.

Donna

 

[dmlove]

I think what this means is you should back up your pix digitally, but you should also probably print those you like best.

On another note, I use Nero very successfully and only use Memorex Gold cdrs.
--
Davia
C-700
pbase supporter
http://www.pbase.com/dmlove

 

[James Jones]

Donna,

I use Nero Burning Software by Ahead, Plextor Plexwriter 8/4/32 CD-RW drive, and Sony 700MB Supremas. I have never once in two year of using this combo created any coasters.

BTW..I always verify the CD afterwards, can never be too cautious.

-James

I have been using a CD burner to back up my photo files. I did
make a few coasters before I seemed to find the right combination
but now have a more troubling problem.

I backed up three cds of jpeg files... no error messages... put the
cds in my portable to copy to make a slideshow... a number of image
files were unreadable... have tried slowing down the burn rate...
still there are unreadable files. What troubles me is I didn't get
any type of error message when I was copying the files. Now I am
concerned that all of my backups, that I haven't needed yet, might
be corrupt as well.

Please offer help or suggestions for where I can research and
alleviate this problem... I'm very nervous about this.

Several of my software vendors (I'm a CPA) are suggesting CD
backups for program software and data files... If I can't depend on
the files this is really frustrating.

All assistance and suggestions are very much appreciated.

--
Donna

 

[Donna Downey Old Account]

I use Nero Burning Software by Ahead, Plextor Plexwriter 8/4/32
CD-RW drive, and Sony 700MB Supremas. I have never once in two
year of using this combo created any coasters.

BTW..I always verify the CD afterwards, can never be too cautious.

-James

I have been using a CD burner to back up my photo files. I did
make a few coasters before I seemed to find the right combination
but now have a more troubling problem.

I backed up three cds of jpeg files... no error messages... put the
cds in my portable to copy to make a slideshow... a number of image
files were unreadable... have tried slowing down the burn rate...
still there are unreadable files. What troubles me is I didn't get
any type of error message when I was copying the files. Now I am
concerned that all of my backups, that I haven't needed yet, might
be corrupt as well.

Please offer help or suggestions for where I can research and
alleviate this problem... I'm very nervous about this.

Several of my software vendors (I'm a CPA) are suggesting CD
backups for program software and data files... If I can't depend on
the files this is really frustrating.

All assistance and suggestions are very much appreciated.

--
Donna

--
Donna

 

[Estuardo]

I think the medium you're using is probably the most important point to consider when writing - not only for accuracy, but also for longevity. For that reason, I use ONLY Mistui Gold and get them at http://www.arcal.com/mitsuicdrs.html for $1.0? - $1.47 each (depending upon quantity) A little more expensive, but (IMO) quality often is.

FYI, while my household effects were sitting in storage in Karachi, Pakistan waiting to be released by customs, temperatures reached to 50°C (122°F). I'd imagine it'd be A LOT hotter inside the warehouse. Inside were some blank Mitsui Gold CD-R's. 10-15% were bad (couldn't write to them), and I'm sure it was the heat they were exposed to for the six weeks in very hot conditions (the shrink wrap showed signs of excessive heat). I have never had a problem otherwise.

Stu