In case anyone has been wondering, these holes did not get bigger nearly 4 years after I made this post. I guess blu-rays are safe from it?

The way I store my games (Discs, cartridges are in the same closet) is in my tech stuff closet that has a 3 centimeter opening (It is never fully closed, don't know if it matters). The games aren't exposed to any direct light. I have two of those anti moisture bags (those that you usually get when you buy new shoes) in there too.

I also haven't noticed any more "rot" progress on my CDs, oldest that I have is a techno music compilation from 1996.

However, my friend who kept his Xbox 360 games near a radiator have developed "disc rot"on the same side that was close to the radiator. Note that the game cases weren't damaged from heat, nor the thin plastic film on the case itself. Why he kept them there I don't know but at least that's some useful data from that. The games were stacked on top of one another, with earlier discs having larger "rot" area than the newer ones.

I have several old titles, like Warcraft II, Prince Of Persia, Littlle Big Adventure. The earliest "written" disc I have was made ca. 1996. Oh, and also those music CDs from the 90s, I think the oldest one I have is Femme Fatale's (Lorraine Lewis') Femme Fatale (1988). Never seen anything like that. There has been some mold-like layer/spots on one or two discs, which washed away with soap and water. I suspect something got in and grew during the years. I may only humbly suggest you check for some mechanical explanation.

I'm pretty much impressed with the 3.5" floppies though. Expected them to last 10 years maximum, but they keep nagging on surprisingly well, like that Grand Prix Ega one which does not allow me to copy itself, but still runs - and it's been some 30 years, I guess.

Can't say I've ever once come across a CD or DVD that didn't read for any reason other than scratches or dirt. My oldest CDs are from the 80s and read fine.

Same story with BluRays, but the oldest BluRays I have are on average only 15 years old or so.

Lucky the discs are still readable! Maybe those dots are just some areas of the printed label that are thinner than the rest?

I've not come across a Blu-ray yet that is unreadable due to anything like this. I have however had a decent amount of HD-DVDs go bad which are known to degrade.

My old copy of Command & Conquer: The First Decade, a DVD had some kind of rot that make it unreadable I guess it was just a bad one in the batch or something.

Yet to have any CDs with issues...

The Canadian government has an interesting article on disc longevity.

https://www.canada.ca/en/conservation-institu … e-cds-dvds.html

Worth creating disc images of anything you want to preserve long term. Nothing is forever especially Warner Brothers HD-DVDs 😂.

Dan9550 wrote on 2025-07-25, 23:59:

Lucky the discs are still readable! Maybe those dots are just some areas of the printed label that are thinner than the rest? […]
Show full quote

Lucky the discs are still readable! Maybe those dots are just some areas of the printed label that are thinner than the rest?

I've not come across a Blu-ray yet that is unreadable due to anything like this. I have however had a decent amount of HD-DVDs go bad which are known to degrade.

My old copy of Command & Conquer: The First Decade, a DVD had some kind of rot that make it unreadable I guess it was just a bad one in the batch or something.

Yet to have any CDs with issues...

The Canadian government has an interesting article on disc longevity.

https://www.canada.ca/en/conservation-institu … e-cds-dvds.html

Worth creating disc images of anything you want to preserve long term. Nothing is forever especially Warner Brothers HD-DVDs 😂.

You beat me to it. Coincidentally, I was just reading this Reddit on the Blade Runner 30th Anniversary set. Crazy.

liqmat wrote on 2025-07-26, 01:01:

Dan9550 wrote on 2025-07-25, 23:59:

Lucky the discs are still readable! Maybe those dots are just some areas of the printed label that are thinner than the rest? […]
Show full quote

Lucky the discs are still readable! Maybe those dots are just some areas of the printed label that are thinner than the rest?

I've not come across a Blu-ray yet that is unreadable due to anything like this. I have however had a decent amount of HD-DVDs go bad which are known to degrade.

My old copy of Command & Conquer: The First Decade, a DVD had some kind of rot that make it unreadable I guess it was just a bad one in the batch or something.

Yet to have any CDs with issues...

The Canadian government has an interesting article on disc longevity.

https://www.canada.ca/en/conservation-institu … e-cds-dvds.html

Worth creating disc images of anything you want to preserve long term. Nothing is forever especially Warner Brothers HD-DVDs 😂.

You beat me to it. Coincidentally, I was just reading this Reddit on the Blade Runner 30th Anniversary set. Crazy.

HD-DVD is a dreaded format looking back now, huge batch of bad discs that were released and when I picked up a Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive I had to replace one of the larger capacitors in it to get it working. Known fault apparently.

My set of The Matrix on HD-DVD is nothing more than an interesting shelf piece and conversation starter now.

Makes you wonder how blu-ray will stand the test of time so far so good it seems.

FWIW, I have stumbled on visually spotless PS3 game discs that were partially unreadable on either a PS3 (with a freshly replaced laser head assembly) or a PC (with appropriate software).

I have never seen such an issue with a movie Blu-Ray disc (I have hundreds of those).

From what I gather, CD-Rs contain data in the reflective layer, while factory discs are pressed and contain data? If that is so, even factory discs with rot could be fixed assuming there is a way to restore the reflective layer? Sucks about HD-DVDs though but seeing those pics, I'm glad Blu-ray won the format war...

it's all a bit of a worry, i am hoping simply that the majority of professionally produced cds and dvds will last a few decades.... I have some optical discs already over 20 years old and they work fine still. It seems like most of the reason for long lasting optical media is the manufacturing, and then the rest is storage - steady temperature, little moisture, that kind of thing

Vany wrote on 2025-07-29, 13:23:

From what I gather, CD-Rs contain data in the reflective layer, while factory discs are pressed and contain data? If that is so, even factory discs with rot could be fixed assuming there is a way to restore the reflective layer? Sucks about HD-DVDs though but seeing those pics, I'm glad Blu-ray won the format war...

Recordables have a dye layer that stores the data and a reflective layer to bounce the laser.

Pressed discs the reflective layer is two fold and contains the data. That's why a scratch to that layer is worse than a pin hole on pressed discs.

thats not disc rot if its even a thing, the label side has been damaged and the data has flaked off, the labels on PS3 games are especially shit, worse than those gold kodak/maxell cdrs from the late 90's that used to de-laminate with the slightest flex.

ive got a few ps3 games ive bought from new and have been well looked after, when not in the console they are in the case, and they have parts of the label that flaked off along with the precious data which could only be caused by the disc flexing while removing it from the case and clicking it back in, i also picked up a copy of GTAV for ps3 and couldnt install the disc or back it up due to read errors, i held the disc up to a lightbulb and could see light shining through in various places which would explain the read errors i was getting, it seems all bluray discs are equally as shit.

as for disc rot the closest thing i would liken it to is those round blotches you get on the blue,purple cdr/dvdr's.

Standard PS3 case does not flex the disc much, if at all. There are some stupid limited edition cases though, like Battlefield: Bad Company.