Mandrew wrote on 2025-05-28, 13:49:

Bought a pack of lightscribe DVDs before they disappear like lightscribe CDs did.

Nice, my CD-R's number the same now as they did years ago. I never use them now that USB memory sticks are around, and yet i know that older magnetic and optical storage may even outlast solid state devices

gerry wrote on 2025-05-28, 14:12:

Mandrew wrote on 2025-05-28, 13:49:

Bought a pack of lightscribe DVDs before they disappear like lightscribe CDs did.

Nice, my CD-R's number the same now as they did years ago. I never use them now that USB memory sticks are around, and yet i know that older magnetic and optical storage may even outlast solid state devices

Depends on the quality of the media to begin with, most of the recordable optical media was garbage tier quality even if it was sold at a premium and the reality is the dyes used don't last that long even in controlled storage. Now the pressed discs last a lot longer but they too eventually fail due to the pressed recording medium debonding from the plastic disc or it gets bit rot pin holes through out the recording layer.

So no optical media wont outlive NAND, suffice to say there isn't any consumer grade fail proof long term storage unless you are willing to pay through the roof for it. Spinning Rust is as close as we get to any form of cheap long term storage that is fairly reliable if stored in controlled conditions.

That said modern Nand has come quite a long way and the life time and storage retention these days is likely far longer than you will ever need the stored data for, it is however stupidly expensive for that task and not as reliable or cheap as Spinning rust is nor does Nand have the huge capacity of HDDs.

So really its pick whats best for the storage situation you find yourself in, but optical is a really bad idea.

gerry wrote on 2025-05-28, 14:12:

Nice, my CD-R's number the same now as they did years ago. I never use them now"

I tried to use them for fun a few years back but they all turned out to be bad. A good, reliable lightscribe CD must cost a pretty penny now.

Trashbytes wrote on 2025-05-28, 14:37:

Depends on the quality of the media to begin with, most of the recordable optical media was garbage tier quality even if it was sold at a premium and the reality is the dyes used don't last that long even in controlled storage.

Agreed, none of my NOS HP lightscribe CDs worked that I bought off Amazon.

2GB DDR500 - lets a go

Think these were the fastest DDR1 sticks that came out.

Lostdotfish wrote on 2025-05-28, 15:49:

2GB DDR500 - lets a go

Think these were the fastest DDR1 sticks that came out.

The attachment Screenshot 2025-05-28 164725.png is no longer available

Nice! I can safely say that high clocked DDR 1 is not something you find every day. I don't think I've found a single stick of DDR higher than 400Mhz since I started deliberately collecting "old" stuff in 2015.

I remembered buying some OCZ DDR500 back in the day so I just checked my newegg order history and found that I bought a kit of 2x1GB OCZ PC-4000 DDR-500 back in 2006 for... oof......... $210. 😱

I think I was desperate to make Oblivion run better on an Athlon X2 at any cost... and the expensive RAM probably didn't do squat because the game ran so bad in CPU limited situations like cities. Still, it was cool to have such a nice memory setup for my my old DFI Lanparty Nforce 4 Ultra board + Athlon X2 4200+.

Surprisingly, I was smart enough to pull that insanely expensive memory out before using the board to build a friend a gaming PC in ~2007 when I upgraded to a Core 2 Duo E6750. He wasn't going to maintain an OC, so it made more sense to just use DDR400. In 2012-2013 I realized the RAM was still worth a bunch of money so I sold it for at least $100, which wasn't bad at all.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-05-28, 17:34:

Nice! I can safely say that high clocked DDR 1 is not something you find every day. I don't think I've found a single stick of D […]
Show full quote

Lostdotfish wrote on 2025-05-28, 15:49:

2GB DDR500 - lets a go

Think these were the fastest DDR1 sticks that came out.

The attachment Screenshot 2025-05-28 164725.png is no longer available

Nice! I can safely say that high clocked DDR 1 is not something you find every day. I don't think I've found a single stick of DDR higher than 400Mhz since I started deliberately collecting "old" stuff in 2015.

I remembered buying some OCZ DDR500 back in the day so I just checked my newegg order history and found that I bought a kit of 2x1GB OCZ PC-4000 DDR-500 back in 2006 for... oof......... $210. 😱

I think I was desperate to make Oblivion run better on an Athlon X2 at any cost... and the expensive RAM probably didn't do squat because the game ran so bad in CPU limited situations like cities. Still, it was cool to have such a nice memory setup for my my old DFI Lanparty Nforce 4 Ultra board + Athlon X2 4200+.

Surprisingly, I was smart enough to pull that insanely expensive memory out before using the board to build a friend a gaming PC in ~2007 when I upgraded to a Core 2 Duo E6750. He wasn't going to maintain an OC, so it made more sense to just use DDR400. In 2012-2013 I realized the RAM was still worth a bunch of money so I sold it for at least $100, which wasn't bad at all.

I generally keep a close eye for the rare stuff but this is the first PC4000 I've been able to catch.

I picked up these over the last year or so though

I have a pair of DDR500 too... mine are red Adata Vitesta sticks.

Got two packages today. One was a motherboard I sent back to its psychopath seller. The other one thankfully made my day, which is a cool boxed K6-2 350

clownwolf wrote on 2025-05-29, 02:04:

Got two packages today. One was a motherboard I sent back to its psychopath seller. The other one thankfully made my day, which is a cool boxed K6-2 350

The attachment 20250528_185907.jpg is no longer available

The attachment 20250528_185926.jpg is no longer available

Psychopathic ???

You cant leave a cliff hanger like that .. do tell !

Trashbytes wrote on 2025-05-29, 02:07:

clownwolf wrote on 2025-05-29, 02:04:

Got two packages today. One was a motherboard I sent back to its psychopath seller. The other one thankfully made my day, which is a cool boxed K6-2 350

The attachment 20250528_185907.jpg is no longer available

The attachment 20250528_185926.jpg is no longer available

Psychopathic ???

You cant leave a cliff hanger like that .. do tell !

The motherboard bag was already unsealed, so I sent the seller some photos. I was not asking for a refund, nor did I accuse him. First message I received was that I am a liar, and threatened to report my account as a scammer.

Since he was very angry, I looked at the box again to inspect. Inside the box I saw an indent and a small hole impact hole. I looked at the motherboard bag, and yes there was also a hole. The motherboard was probably dropped during shipping that it cause the board to poke through its bag and make a hole in the box. This could also explain the broken seal, as it looks perfectly snapped off rather than torn by someone's hand.

I sent the photos, and was ready to leave the matter and never talk to the guy again. I again was not asking for a refund, nor accusing him of faulty packaging. The seller responded that I made things up to scam him and DARED me to return it as he has several options he can do to me (to my person or to my ebay account, he didnt say). So I returned it and I am very curios if he will show up one day at my house.

clownwolf wrote on 2025-05-29, 02:43:

The motherboard bag was already unsealed, so I sent the seller some photos. I was not asking for a refund, nor did I accuse him. […]
Show full quote

Trashbytes wrote on 2025-05-29, 02:07:

clownwolf wrote on 2025-05-29, 02:04:

Got two packages today. One was a motherboard I sent back to its psychopath seller. The other one thankfully made my day, which is a cool boxed K6-2 350

The attachment 20250528_185907.jpg is no longer available

The attachment 20250528_185926.jpg is no longer available

Psychopathic ???

You cant leave a cliff hanger like that .. do tell !

The motherboard bag was already unsealed, so I sent the seller some photos. I was not asking for a refund, nor did I accuse him. First message I received was that I am a liar, and threatened to report my account as a scammer.

Since he was very angry, I looked at the box again to inspect. Inside the box I saw an indent and a small hole impact hole. I looked at the motherboard bag, and yes there was also a hole. The motherboard was probably dropped during shipping that it cause the board to poke through its bag and make a hole in the box. This could also explain the broken seal, as it looks perfectly snapped off rather than torn by someone's hand.

I sent the photos, and was ready to leave the matter and never talk to the guy again. I again was not asking for a refund, nor accusing him of faulty packaging. The seller responded that I made things up to scam him and DARED me to return it as he has several options he can do to me (to my person or to my ebay account, he didnt say). So I returned it and I am very curios if he will show up one day at my house.

WTH man ...I have had my encounters on eBay with idiot sellers but never to that extent.

Pretty sure I have these DDR500 sticks laying around still, which I bought brand new in 2004. Albeit a bit small ...

Trashbytes wrote on 2025-05-28, 14:37:

Depends on the quality of the media to begin with, most of the recordable optical media was garbage tier quality even if it was sold at a premium and the reality is the dyes used don't last that long even in controlled storage. Now the pressed discs last a lot longer but they too eventually fail due to the pressed recording medium debonding from the plastic disc or it gets bit rot pin holes through out the recording layer.

i found an article to that effect: https://www.howtogeek.com/682807/the-cds-you- … you-need-to-do/

i think the conclusion has to be that backups should be duplicated - nand and maybe tape/hdd too, optical ok if we have highest quality but that's unlikely

for those with games and so on pressed cd/dvd an article suggests a wide range of years - https://www.howtogeek.com/854137/how-long-do- … -and-dvds-last/

i've never known a pressed cd or dvd to fail yet though (well, unless by physical damage), but i'm sure some must for such a range to be stated

on reader longevity I'm not sure, there are mechanical parts that can be repaired - i just have lots of left over dvd readers from old pc's, hope they're ok in storage

gerry wrote on 2025-05-29, 08:31:

i found an article to that effect: https://www.howtogeek.com/682807/the-cds-you- … you-need-to-do/ […]
Show full quote

Trashbytes wrote on 2025-05-28, 14:37:

Depends on the quality of the media to begin with, most of the recordable optical media was garbage tier quality even if it was sold at a premium and the reality is the dyes used don't last that long even in controlled storage. Now the pressed discs last a lot longer but they too eventually fail due to the pressed recording medium debonding from the plastic disc or it gets bit rot pin holes through out the recording layer.

i found an article to that effect: https://www.howtogeek.com/682807/the-cds-you- … you-need-to-do/

i think the conclusion has to be that backups should be duplicated - nand and maybe tape/hdd too, optical ok if we have highest quality but that's unlikely

for those with games and so on pressed cd/dvd an article suggests a wide range of years - https://www.howtogeek.com/854137/how-long-do- … -and-dvds-last/

i've never known a pressed cd or dvd to fail yet though (well, unless by physical damage), but i'm sure some must for such a range to be stated

on reader longevity I'm not sure, there are mechanical parts that can be repaired - i just have lots of left over dvd readers from old pc's, hope they're ok in storage

I have a ton of pressed CDs fail on me, some it was due to the plastic itself becoming brittle/tiny cracks and the disc shattering from that as soon as it was spun up, others it was from bit rot where you would get tiny pin holes in the silver part which made the data unreadable once the laser got to that hole. The RW discs all failed due to the dye degrading and not from any physical failure. DvDs don't suffer as much due to them being newer and DL DvDs failures are even lower again. I have only had two discs where the silver layer debonded and it was only in small sections and obviously this made the disc totally unreadable.

Truly its age that kills a lot of discs but how they were fabbricated also plays a part with discs using higher quality materials, dyes, bonding lasting far longer, its the same with floppy discs and tapes too.

My take away is using a slower drive is actually better for old discs than using some super fast one, far less stress is placed on the medium with the slower drives. I actually use a caddy CD now if i suspect the disc may not survive the stress of a normal CD drive or the disc has damage/cracks on the inner ring. This way I can at least make a backup of it and store it away again with the copy.

Pretty sure you can slow a drive down.
Either with software, or simply putting it into a pio mode.
Not 100% sure the last would work, but it doesn't make sense to run at full spin speed when the data rate is so low.

I use CDBeQuiet on all my DOS machines to slow down the CDRom speed. Works perfectly. Really helps with noise too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwgpSst09-Y

myne wrote on 2025-05-29, 08:59:

Pretty sure you can slow a drive down.
Either with software, or simply putting it into a pio mode.
Not 100% sure the last would work, but it doesn't make sense to run at full spin speed when the data rate is so low.

Yeah a program works just as good, I just use a caddy drive as I have one handy, no sense in not using it.

zuldan wrote on 2025-05-29, 09:12:

I use CDBeQuiet on all my DOS machines to slow down the CDRom speed. Works perfectly. Really helps with noise too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwgpSst09-Y

Nothing like the sound of a 52X drive taking off ! and then hearing the disc start vibrating weirdly and then BOOM. .. yup had this happen to me with a game disc . .IIRC it was Anachronox, disc just exploded and made a mess ...took forever to clean all the disc glitter out of the drive.

Trashbytes wrote on 2025-05-29, 09:57:

zuldan wrote on 2025-05-29, 09:12:

I use CDBeQuiet on all my DOS machines to slow down the CDRom speed. Works perfectly. Really helps with noise too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwgpSst09-Y

Nothing like the sound of a 52X drive taking off ! and then hearing the disc start vibrating weirdly and then BOOM. .. yup had this happen to me with a game disc . .IIRC it was Anachronox, disc just exploded and made a mess ...took forever to clean all the disc glitter out of the drive.

That’s gotta suck. Never had that happen to me before.

zuldan wrote on 2025-05-29, 10:03:

Trashbytes wrote on 2025-05-29, 09:57:

zuldan wrote on 2025-05-29, 09:12:

I use CDBeQuiet on all my DOS machines to slow down the CDRom speed. Works perfectly. Really helps with noise too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwgpSst09-Y

Nothing like the sound of a 52X drive taking off ! and then hearing the disc start vibrating weirdly and then BOOM. .. yup had this happen to me with a game disc . .IIRC it was Anachronox, disc just exploded and made a mess ...took forever to clean all the disc glitter out of the drive.

That’s gotta suck. Never had that happen to me before.

Scared the shit out of me at the time and disc glitter sucks ...sticks to every damn thing.