World's Crappiest Drives (was Re: A&J Microdrive)

From: John Foust <jfoust_at_threedee.com>
Date: Thu Dec 7 08:22:42 2000

At 01:49 PM 12/6/00 -0600, Chuck wrote:
>At 03:29 PM 12/6/2000 -0600, John Foust wrote:
>>And the technical difference between silver and gold crap? :-)
>>Different dyes?
>
>No, different elements. One uses aluminum foil and the other gold foil. Aluminum has the unfortunate tendency to oxidize once oxygen permeates(sp?) the plastic or the top seal. This oxidation shows up as "black crud" growing from a crack or scratch.

Hmm. And how much plastic has to be scratched off before the foil is
exposed, and how wide of a scratch on either Al or Au will blow
away data, given the ECC? If a CD gets scratched, oxidation
won't happen for a while. Will I notice the scratch before
it's too late? Am I mistreating archival CDs in the first place?

- John
Received on Thu Dec 07 2000 - 08:22:42 GMT