GOG.com Holiday Sale - 25% to 40% Off
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Yeah, I started buying a bunch of stuff on Steam and then I started getting nervous I was spending so much money on stuff that required me to be online (at least occasionally) and Steam to continue to exist, that I figured it was time to hop over to GOG and pick up a couple of games. Ended up spending like $40 and am tempted to go back for a few more things before the deal's over.
Something feels much more comfortable about seeing those games on my GoG virtual shelf and knowing once I get them all downloaded they're mine forever, than seeing the Steam list and knowing if something happens and they pull the plug, my money may be gone too. Yeah, GoG can cost more than Steam, but knowing it's MINE no matter what is a nice thought.
Something feels much more comfortable about seeing those games on my GoG virtual shelf and knowing once I get them all downloaded they're mine forever, than seeing the Steam list and knowing if something happens and they pull the plug, my money may be gone too. Yeah, GoG can cost more than Steam, but knowing it's MINE no matter what is a nice thought.
Yes you can. Says it right here at #4.
ChernobylCow
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Any recommendations from their catalog that are games similar to Silent Storm? Isometric 3rd person turn based squad game w/rpg elements. Jagged Alliance probably but I know next to nothing about the series.
[quote name='Justin42']Yeah, I started buying a bunch of stuff on Steam and then I started getting nervous I was spending so much money on stuff that required me to be online (at least occasionally) and Steam to continue to exist, that I figured it was time to hop over to GOG and pick up a couple of games. Ended up spending like $40 and am tempted to go back for a few more things before the deal's over.
Something feels much more comfortable about seeing those games on my GoG virtual shelf and knowing once I get them all downloaded they're mine forever, than seeing the Steam list and knowing if something happens and they pull the plug, my money may be gone too. Yeah, GoG can cost more than Steam, but knowing it's MINE no matter what is a nice thought.[/QUOTE]
That's like worrying that you won't have access to your favorite TV shows if your cable company suddenly goes out of business. Not gonna happen to a business that makes tonnnnns of money.
Something feels much more comfortable about seeing those games on my GoG virtual shelf and knowing once I get them all downloaded they're mine forever, than seeing the Steam list and knowing if something happens and they pull the plug, my money may be gone too. Yeah, GoG can cost more than Steam, but knowing it's MINE no matter what is a nice thought.[/QUOTE]
That's like worrying that you won't have access to your favorite TV shows if your cable company suddenly goes out of business. Not gonna happen to a business that makes tonnnnns of money.
Wolfpup
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Regarding Jagged Alliance I'm on a board that LOVED that back in the day. I can see why, but it's too hardcore for me. It's super open world (before that was a thing), but you have such scant resources, and are pretty much trying to conquer an entire country with a few guys. I still dumped a bunch of hours into it, but geez is it hard core.
placebo3369
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[quote name='Mike UFC']Real tempted to revisit the world of Tex Murphy. Might just spring for Killing Moon and Pandora and pick up Overseer and the two pack later since I missed on the free period for it. So mad I missed that.[/QUOTE]
Just played through Under A Killing Moon again. Still a great game, still fun to play.
Just played through Under A Killing Moon again. Still a great game, still fun to play.
KillingMachine
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[quote name='Wolfpup']That's not really like that... Either way, you don't own anything you get from Steam while you're actually getting something when you give GOG money.[/QUOTE]
This is why I prefer GOG over any of the other download services. Its way less intrusive and even if a game costs a bit more there it is usually worth the extra cost to be able to make your own backup and be able to play it years from now whether GOG is still around or not. Its the only one of the bunch where I actually feel like I own what I buy from them.
Picked up Sanitarium, Fallout Tactics, FlatOut and Duke Nukem Manhattan Project from this sale.
This is why I prefer GOG over any of the other download services. Its way less intrusive and even if a game costs a bit more there it is usually worth the extra cost to be able to make your own backup and be able to play it years from now whether GOG is still around or not. Its the only one of the bunch where I actually feel like I own what I buy from them.
Picked up Sanitarium, Fallout Tactics, FlatOut and Duke Nukem Manhattan Project from this sale.
bitter1961
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[quote name='VidPower']If Valve were to ever hypothetically go out of business, they said that they would release a patch to make it so that all their games would not need to be authenticated. Topics like this come up all the time in the Steam forums.[/QUOTE]
If Valve were to go out of business, they'd sell off Steam to pay their debts. Releasing an authentication-removal patch would be like burning their office furniture to spite their creditors. That said, I've had CD-Rs sitting on a shelf begin to disintegrate and flake apart in less time than Steam's been around. Which is why the fact that GOG has already started to remove the ability to redownload games a bit worrying. On the other hand they've only said they were going to delete my online copy of TOCA 3, not actually done it, but the fact that they're apparently relying on staying quiet to get them out of license obligations isn't much more reassuring.
Still didn't stop me from taking advantage of the sale though! As a word of advice to anyone else, the shopping cart shows the wrong subtotal but it's all alright when you get to the purchase page, so don't worry. And it says the sale ends today, so you better hurry!
If Valve were to go out of business, they'd sell off Steam to pay their debts. Releasing an authentication-removal patch would be like burning their office furniture to spite their creditors. That said, I've had CD-Rs sitting on a shelf begin to disintegrate and flake apart in less time than Steam's been around. Which is why the fact that GOG has already started to remove the ability to redownload games a bit worrying. On the other hand they've only said they were going to delete my online copy of TOCA 3, not actually done it, but the fact that they're apparently relying on staying quiet to get them out of license obligations isn't much more reassuring.
Still didn't stop me from taking advantage of the sale though! As a word of advice to anyone else, the shopping cart shows the wrong subtotal but it's all alright when you get to the purchase page, so don't worry. And it says the sale ends today, so you better hurry!
Wolfpup
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[quote name='VidPower']If Valve were to ever hypothetically go out of business, they said that they would release a patch to make it so that all their games would not need to be authenticated. Topics like this come up all the time in the Steam forums.[/QUOTE]
Besides what Bitter said, they CAN'T unlock third party stuff (most of what is available on Steam). They MIGHT be able to do it for their own stuff, but even that would be a big question mark as at that point they may not own their stuff, or may want to sell, or whatever.
[quote name='bitter1961']Which is why the fact that GOG has already started to remove the ability to redownload games a bit worrying. On the other hand they've only said they were going to delete my online copy of TOCA 3, not actually done it[/quote]
Just to be clear, it sounds like that's a game they don't sell anymore. I mean I wouldn't want to redownload stuff just to avoid the strain on GOG and my ISP, but all my games are still there.
I still want some more recommendations! Empire Earth sounds kind of cool. I've got The Nations in my cart too for reasons unknown. Any suggests would be cool!
Besides what Bitter said, they CAN'T unlock third party stuff (most of what is available on Steam). They MIGHT be able to do it for their own stuff, but even that would be a big question mark as at that point they may not own their stuff, or may want to sell, or whatever.
[quote name='bitter1961']Which is why the fact that GOG has already started to remove the ability to redownload games a bit worrying. On the other hand they've only said they were going to delete my online copy of TOCA 3, not actually done it[/quote]
Just to be clear, it sounds like that's a game they don't sell anymore. I mean I wouldn't want to redownload stuff just to avoid the strain on GOG and my ISP, but all my games are still there.
I still want some more recommendations! Empire Earth sounds kind of cool. I've got The Nations in my cart too for reasons unknown. Any suggests would be cool!
namster1337
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Just got Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics for $3.89 each 
bitter1961
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[quote name='Wolfpup']Just to be clear, it sounds like that's a game they don't sell anymore. I mean I wouldn't want to redownload stuff just to avoid the strain on GOG and my ISP, but all my games are still there.
I still want some more recommendations! Empire Earth sounds kind of cool. I've got The Nations in my cart too for reasons unknown. Any suggests would be cool![/QUOTE]
Yeah, it was a game that they stopped selling and then a month or two later discovered that not only were they required to stop selling it but had to remove it from the accounts of their users. They also said there were some other unnamed games which would be the same when the contracts ran out, but would try to renegotiate...
Steam has already proven to be more long-lived than some of my local backups, and I had hoped for the same from GOG and was surprised to see the service already proving unreliable within its first year. It was just disappointing and something that has me wait for heavy sales before considering them.
That said, they haven't actually gotten around to removing the game in question from users' accounts yet, but with no official stay of execution announced it looks like they're just hoping the license holders won't notice if they cheat, rather than having found an actual solution.
As far as suggestions, I picked up Seven Kingdoms 2 even though I own it on CD (in hopes of GOG's version being able to do multiplayer without losing sync on modern OSes). I'm not much of an RTS player, but there's just something about 7K2 that I really like. I've never tried the first one but it's even more highly regarded. I also just learned that there's a project working on new up-to-date windows clients for both Seven Kingdoms and Seven Kingdoms 2, which is exciting news (and proof of how devoted some its fans are).
I still want some more recommendations! Empire Earth sounds kind of cool. I've got The Nations in my cart too for reasons unknown. Any suggests would be cool![/QUOTE]
Yeah, it was a game that they stopped selling and then a month or two later discovered that not only were they required to stop selling it but had to remove it from the accounts of their users. They also said there were some other unnamed games which would be the same when the contracts ran out, but would try to renegotiate...
Steam has already proven to be more long-lived than some of my local backups, and I had hoped for the same from GOG and was surprised to see the service already proving unreliable within its first year. It was just disappointing and something that has me wait for heavy sales before considering them.
That said, they haven't actually gotten around to removing the game in question from users' accounts yet, but with no official stay of execution announced it looks like they're just hoping the license holders won't notice if they cheat, rather than having found an actual solution.
As far as suggestions, I picked up Seven Kingdoms 2 even though I own it on CD (in hopes of GOG's version being able to do multiplayer without losing sync on modern OSes). I'm not much of an RTS player, but there's just something about 7K2 that I really like. I've never tried the first one but it's even more highly regarded. I also just learned that there's a project working on new up-to-date windows clients for both Seven Kingdoms and Seven Kingdoms 2, which is exciting news (and proof of how devoted some its fans are).
opportunity777
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[quote name='bitter1961']Yeah, it was a game that they stopped selling and then a month or two later discovered that not only were they required to stop selling it but had to remove it from the accounts of their users. They also said there were some other unnamed games which would be the same when the contracts ran out, but would try to renegotiate...
Steam has already proven to be more long-lived than some of my local backups, and I had hoped for the same from GOG and was surprised to see the service already proving unreliable within its first year. It was just disappointing and something that has me wait for heavy sales before considering them.
That said, they haven't actually gotten around to removing the game in question from users' accounts yet, but with no official stay of execution announced it looks like they're just hoping the license holders won't notice if they cheat, rather than having found an actual solution.
As far as suggestions, I picked up Seven Kingdoms 2 even though I own it on CD (in hopes of GOG's version being able to do multiplayer without losing sync on modern OSes). I'm not much of an RTS player, but there's just something about 7K2 that I really like. I've never tried the first one but it's even more highly regarded. I also just learned that there's a project working on new up-to-date windows clients for both Seven Kingdoms and Seven Kingdoms 2, which is exciting news (and proof of how devoted some its fans are).[/QUOTE]
No games have or will be removed from people's accounts. After said incident, that's already been addressed a few times. Although, those titles will no longer be available for sale.
Steam has already proven to be more long-lived than some of my local backups, and I had hoped for the same from GOG and was surprised to see the service already proving unreliable within its first year. It was just disappointing and something that has me wait for heavy sales before considering them.
That said, they haven't actually gotten around to removing the game in question from users' accounts yet, but with no official stay of execution announced it looks like they're just hoping the license holders won't notice if they cheat, rather than having found an actual solution.
As far as suggestions, I picked up Seven Kingdoms 2 even though I own it on CD (in hopes of GOG's version being able to do multiplayer without losing sync on modern OSes). I'm not much of an RTS player, but there's just something about 7K2 that I really like. I've never tried the first one but it's even more highly regarded. I also just learned that there's a project working on new up-to-date windows clients for both Seven Kingdoms and Seven Kingdoms 2, which is exciting news (and proof of how devoted some its fans are).[/QUOTE]
No games have or will be removed from people's accounts. After said incident, that's already been addressed a few times. Although, those titles will no longer be available for sale.
I burned a CD for my dad a few years ago, and it's already almost shot. Wasn't abused or anything, I think it just degraded. Granted it was a cheap brand, be warned guys. Optical Discs will go bad on you eventually, just depends on conditions, and brand and stuff.
Grabbed:
Duke Nukem 3D & Manhattan Project
Broken Sword 2 & 3 (to avoid Starforce on 3)
In Cold Blood
Simon the Sorcerer 1 & 2
The Feeble Files
Incredible Machine Megapack
Septerra Core
JA2: Wildfire
Was going to recommend things like Sanitarium, but noticed that the sale would be over by now. Hope you all snagged what you wanted.
Was tempted to buy a few more, but they were titles I have physical copies of, with thin extras, and good OS compat. out of the box. All that is what it takes for me to not buy a game from GOG.
Now, on to my Steam cart....
Duke Nukem 3D & Manhattan Project
Broken Sword 2 & 3 (to avoid Starforce on 3)
In Cold Blood
Simon the Sorcerer 1 & 2
The Feeble Files
Incredible Machine Megapack
Septerra Core
JA2: Wildfire
Was going to recommend things like Sanitarium, but noticed that the sale would be over by now. Hope you all snagged what you wanted.
Was tempted to buy a few more, but they were titles I have physical copies of, with thin extras, and good OS compat. out of the box. All that is what it takes for me to not buy a game from GOG.
Now, on to my Steam cart....
Wow, glad I made a semi-frantic last purchase before going out to watch some TV; I wasn't sure when the deal would end but since I found out they're in Europe (thanks, international credit card fees even when the transaction is in US$, last time I'll be using that card for purchases!) I thought it could end at any time.
Whew. It probably saved me another $20 to not be able to buy more.
Whew. It probably saved me another $20 to not be able to buy more.
Wolfpup
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I'd meant to buy Empire Earth for sure, but missed out. Of course it's still dirt cheap!
[quote name='Vegan']You don't think burned optical media lasts forever, do you? Or even 10 years? That stuff can become unreadable pretty quickly unless you're using expensive archival Taiyo Yuden stuff.[/QUOTE]
[quote name='JUDOHAWK']I burned a CD for my dad a few years ago, and it's already almost shot. Wasn't abused or anything, I think it just degraded. Granted it was a cheap brand, be warned guys. Optical Discs will go bad on you eventually, just depends on conditions, and brand and stuff.[/QUOTE]
I've never had that happen, and I've got CDs way older than that. So I guess I'm kind of skeptical? Yet I know you guys aren't lying, so... I do buy like Sony or other good brands though, so I don't know if that's what helps?
But if this is this severe, what's the solution? I mean do we get two external hard drives INSTEAD of optical media and keep them synced-but the backed up files on them instead of optical media?
[quote name='Vegan']You don't think burned optical media lasts forever, do you? Or even 10 years? That stuff can become unreadable pretty quickly unless you're using expensive archival Taiyo Yuden stuff.[/QUOTE]
[quote name='JUDOHAWK']I burned a CD for my dad a few years ago, and it's already almost shot. Wasn't abused or anything, I think it just degraded. Granted it was a cheap brand, be warned guys. Optical Discs will go bad on you eventually, just depends on conditions, and brand and stuff.[/QUOTE]
I've never had that happen, and I've got CDs way older than that. So I guess I'm kind of skeptical? Yet I know you guys aren't lying, so... I do buy like Sony or other good brands though, so I don't know if that's what helps?
But if this is this severe, what's the solution? I mean do we get two external hard drives INSTEAD of optical media and keep them synced-but the backed up files on them instead of optical media?
Wolfpup
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Crud. What a pain. If this is really a common issue I guess I'll just get a second external drive and 'mirror' them with all this stuff 
/
Dang...and I'd already backed stuff up to disc. I've honestly never seen one degrade though, and I've got stuff...geez, going back a decade anyway, and it all works fine.
/Dang...and I'd already backed stuff up to disc. I've honestly never seen one degrade though, and I've got stuff...geez, going back a decade anyway, and it all works fine.
[quote name='Wolfpup']Crud. What a pain. If this is really a common issue I guess I'll just get a second external drive and 'mirror' them with all this stuff /
Dang...and I'd already backed stuff up to disc. I've honestly never seen one degrade though, and I've got stuff...geez, going back a decade anyway, and it all works fine.[/QUOTE]
A data copy on a USB hard drive is your best bet. One that isn't on all the time that can be stored.
CD Rot does happen, and usually it's by heat/cold than age. Affects the layers since they were pressed a different way than standard CDs.
If you have Music CDs in a car... you'll notice them alot quicker than say CDs in a wallet in your office.
There are better CDs though, and no media is 100% failproof. 3 copies to be on the safe side, 1) Online backup 2) CD/DVD 3) Offline backup stored at a different location.
/Dang...and I'd already backed stuff up to disc. I've honestly never seen one degrade though, and I've got stuff...geez, going back a decade anyway, and it all works fine.[/QUOTE]
A data copy on a USB hard drive is your best bet. One that isn't on all the time that can be stored.
CD Rot does happen, and usually it's by heat/cold than age. Affects the layers since they were pressed a different way than standard CDs.
If you have Music CDs in a car... you'll notice them alot quicker than say CDs in a wallet in your office.
There are better CDs though, and no media is 100% failproof. 3 copies to be on the safe side, 1) Online backup 2) CD/DVD 3) Offline backup stored at a different location.
bitter1961
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[quote name='Wolfpup']Crud. What a pain. If this is really a common issue I guess I'll just get a second external drive and 'mirror' them with all this stuff /
Dang...and I'd already backed stuff up to disc. I've honestly never seen one degrade though, and I've got stuff...geez, going back a decade anyway, and it all works fine.[/QUOTE]
The CD-Rs I've had flake apart on me were the no-name kind that CompUSA used to sell for "free after mail-in rebate", like memorex and store-brands. Though some Kodak long-life NIST-tested silver+gold CD-Rs I have from around the same time only promise a lifetime of 6 years anyway, so even good brands aren't safe forever. Several companies sell "archival quality" CD-R and DVD-Rs, but the cheaper ones don't mention results from aging tests so who knows what you're actually paying for. And even if you do go for the cheaper ones, they still aren't that cheap -- Verbatim seems to be about $3 per DVD-R, or $0.62/GB.
At that price I'd think a hard drive is cheaper, faster, and so much more flexible. I don't think you need to setup a RAID-1 array between two external drives -- one drive and then another copy on either a (regular) DVD-R or your internal hard drive would be more than enough, especially if you check everything's still working every now and then and promptly replace any backups that have gone bad.
I'm not too worried about what will happen if a digital download provider has gone down, and my local backup goes bad, and my installed copy can't be replicated. There will always be The Pirate Bay or its descendants, and if you're truly paranoid printing a list of hashes onto paper is pretty easy and probably the longest-lasting backup you could make.
/Dang...and I'd already backed stuff up to disc. I've honestly never seen one degrade though, and I've got stuff...geez, going back a decade anyway, and it all works fine.[/QUOTE]
The CD-Rs I've had flake apart on me were the no-name kind that CompUSA used to sell for "free after mail-in rebate", like memorex and store-brands. Though some Kodak long-life NIST-tested silver+gold CD-Rs I have from around the same time only promise a lifetime of 6 years anyway, so even good brands aren't safe forever. Several companies sell "archival quality" CD-R and DVD-Rs, but the cheaper ones don't mention results from aging tests so who knows what you're actually paying for. And even if you do go for the cheaper ones, they still aren't that cheap -- Verbatim seems to be about $3 per DVD-R, or $0.62/GB.
At that price I'd think a hard drive is cheaper, faster, and so much more flexible. I don't think you need to setup a RAID-1 array between two external drives -- one drive and then another copy on either a (regular) DVD-R or your internal hard drive would be more than enough, especially if you check everything's still working every now and then and promptly replace any backups that have gone bad.
I'm not too worried about what will happen if a digital download provider has gone down, and my local backup goes bad, and my installed copy can't be replicated. There will always be The Pirate Bay or its descendants, and if you're truly paranoid printing a list of hashes onto paper is pretty easy and probably the longest-lasting backup you could make.
[quote name='Wolfpup']I'd meant to buy Empire Earth for sure, but missed out. Of course it's still dirt cheap!
[/QUOTE]
Darn, how did I miss that one? This seems like a game I'd really enjoy! In fact, I'm thinking of picking it up anyway, since like you said it's still pretty cheap. But of course my cheapass can't help but ask how much cheaper it was during the sale?
[/QUOTE]
Darn, how did I miss that one? This seems like a game I'd really enjoy! In fact, I'm thinking of picking it up anyway, since like you said it's still pretty cheap. But of course my cheapass can't help but ask how much cheaper it was during the sale?
Gamer_4_life
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I think I am late for the sales promotion
Gothic Walrus
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[quote name='bitter1961']The CD-Rs I've had flake apart on me were the no-name kind that CompUSA used to sell for "free after mail-in rebate", like memorex and store-brands.[/QUOTE]
Memorex isn't a cheap brand, let alone a no-name one.s
Memorex isn't a cheap brand, let alone a no-name one.
s[quote name='Gothic Walrus']Memorex isn't a cheap brand, let alone a no-name one. s[/QUOTE]
Well, Memorex may not be cheap, but the quality of their discs are widely regarded as bottom of the barrel crap, sorry to say. They buy anything shiny and round and put their own name on it-- so you might get lucky and get a good spindle, but often much of it is crap.
Sad to see, really, since in the early days of CD-Rs (pre-1999) they were REALLY good and usually sold restamped Taiyo Yuden discs; some of my Memorex CD-Rs from the 2x/4x days still scan better than a lot of freshly burned new CD-Rs.
s[/QUOTE]Well, Memorex may not be cheap, but the quality of their discs are widely regarded as bottom of the barrel crap, sorry to say. They buy anything shiny and round and put their own name on it-- so you might get lucky and get a good spindle, but often much of it is crap.
Sad to see, really, since in the early days of CD-Rs (pre-1999) they were REALLY good and usually sold restamped Taiyo Yuden discs; some of my Memorex CD-Rs from the 2x/4x days still scan better than a lot of freshly burned new CD-Rs.
bitter1961
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I'm especially pleased with the two Simon The Sorcerer games I picked up in this sale. Scummvm makes them so much more modern (I like the look of the hq3x filter) and easy to use than the games in the LucasArts Adventure Pack I got on Steam, even with the updated LucasArts-written interpreter (with data files modified into incompatibility with ScummVM). Not to mention the availability of higher-definition soundtracks from the ScummVM Music Enhancement Project, and having the ability to stick a port of ScummVM and the games' data files on my PDA, Linux-running laptop, or Wii.
I wonder if someday GOG will offer a "data file only" download option, possibly in a zip file for linux/mac users. So many of the games I've gotten from them have updated and much more modern, cross-platform 3rd party engines available, usually with graphical improvements too. Duke Nukem 3D, Freespace 2, any of the games shipping with pre-configured but outdated copies of ScummVM, and Seven Kingdoms 1 and soon 2. I'm sure there's more games on GOG in the same position too.
[quote name='Gothic Walrus']Memorex isn't a cheap brand, let alone a no-name one.s[/QUOTE]
They were free after rebate, which is pretty cheap. And wikipedia says back then they were a brand of Hanny Holdings of Hong Kong, which is pretty close to no-name to me . Their ATIP data shows the same data as my CompUSA-branded ones that have proven extraordinarily bad, and the dyes appear to be the same color too, though they haven't had anywhere near as bad a failure rate; maybe Memorex payed for slightly higher quality control. But Memorex just brand and resell whatever manufacturer's product is currently cheapest, at least they did back then.
I wonder if someday GOG will offer a "data file only" download option, possibly in a zip file for linux/mac users. So many of the games I've gotten from them have updated and much more modern, cross-platform 3rd party engines available, usually with graphical improvements too. Duke Nukem 3D, Freespace 2, any of the games shipping with pre-configured but outdated copies of ScummVM, and Seven Kingdoms 1 and soon 2. I'm sure there's more games on GOG in the same position too.
[quote name='Gothic Walrus']Memorex isn't a cheap brand, let alone a no-name one.
s[/QUOTE]They were free after rebate, which is pretty cheap
. And wikipedia says back then they were a brand of Hanny Holdings of Hong Kong, which is pretty close to no-name to me . Their ATIP data shows the same data as my CompUSA-branded ones that have proven extraordinarily bad, and the dyes appear to be the same color too, though they haven't had anywhere near as bad a failure rate; maybe Memorex payed for slightly higher quality control. But Memorex just brand and resell whatever manufacturer's product is currently cheapest, at least they did back then.
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A lot of Fujifilm media was Taiyo Yuden for a long while. It's really impossible to tell unless you actually purchase a pack of specifically Taiyo Yuden stuff, or you take a sample disc and use a disc reader to show you the manufacturer. Some Sony is Taiyo as well. Large companies use different countries/manufacturers to make different batches. If I recall correctly, Memorex was pretty much crap.
But the material will simply start to degrade over time. This, of course, applies only to burned media. Professionally manfuctured DVDs and CDs are pressed metal, which is a completely different story.
Taiyo Yuden stuff isn't that expensive... and you get far fewer coasters this way:
http://www.supermediastore.com/cate...c-discs-media?filter=&brand=TAIYO+YUDEN&price=
But the material will simply start to degrade over time. This, of course, applies only to burned media. Professionally manfuctured DVDs and CDs are pressed metal, which is a completely different story.
Taiyo Yuden stuff isn't that expensive... and you get far fewer coasters this way:
http://www.supermediastore.com/cate...c-discs-media?filter=&brand=TAIYO+YUDEN&price=
[quote name='GuardianE']A lot of Fujifilm media was Taiyo Yuden for a long while. It's really impossible to tell unless you actually purchase a pack of specifically Taiyo Yuden stuff, or you take a sample disc and use a disc reader to show you the manufacturer. Some Sony is Taiyo as well. Large companies use different countries/manufacturers to make different batches. If I recall correctly, Memorex was pretty much crap.
But the material will simply start to degrade over time. This, of course, applies only to burned media. Professionally manfuctured DVDs and CDs are pressed metal, which is a completely different story.
Taiyo Yuden stuff isn't that expensive... and you get far fewer coasters this way:
http://www.supermediastore.com/cate...c-discs-media?filter=&brand=TAIYO+YUDEN&price=[/QUOTE]
I know you're right on a technical level, but I've personally had more 'professional' discs die due to poor manufacturing (disc rot/ crystallization/spindles breaking apart) than recordable; probably because from the beginning I never bought the cheap/crappy media and companies always look to cheap out with stuff... That said, I'm talking in the low double digits (like less than 20 total) for either type. (at least that I know of..!)
I think the point is ANY digital storage method has a risk of loss-- unlike analog where if a few seconds of tape drops out, you can still get the rest of it, usually if a digital storage method starts failing, you're in trouble for ALL of the content as it's hard to rescue just parts. I don't think a hard drive is an ideal method, either, as one drop and it's (possibly) TOTALLY dead. Flash should store data ok but runs the risk of the flash memory starting to get corrupted, or one good electrical zap killing it.
It's really tough to know what to do. Personally I try to keep anything truly important on 2 different brands of disc (truly different manufacturers, not just different brand names) and where possible have stuff off-site, like at my parents' house.
But the material will simply start to degrade over time. This, of course, applies only to burned media. Professionally manfuctured DVDs and CDs are pressed metal, which is a completely different story.
Taiyo Yuden stuff isn't that expensive... and you get far fewer coasters this way:
http://www.supermediastore.com/cate...c-discs-media?filter=&brand=TAIYO+YUDEN&price=[/QUOTE]
I know you're right on a technical level, but I've personally had more 'professional' discs die due to poor manufacturing (disc rot/ crystallization/spindles breaking apart) than recordable; probably because from the beginning I never bought the cheap/crappy media and companies always look to cheap out with stuff... That said, I'm talking in the low double digits (like less than 20 total) for either type. (at least that I know of..!)
I think the point is ANY digital storage method has a risk of loss-- unlike analog where if a few seconds of tape drops out, you can still get the rest of it, usually if a digital storage method starts failing, you're in trouble for ALL of the content as it's hard to rescue just parts. I don't think a hard drive is an ideal method, either, as one drop and it's (possibly) TOTALLY dead. Flash should store data ok but runs the risk of the flash memory starting to get corrupted, or one good electrical zap killing it.
It's really tough to know what to do. Personally I try to keep anything truly important on 2 different brands of disc (truly different manufacturers, not just different brand names) and where possible have stuff off-site, like at my parents' house.
Flash doesn't "lose its charge" if it's just sitting there. It requires electrical stimulation to change the bits. It's not like there's an internal battery that needs to keep something always-on to prevent data-loss.
The limit is on the number of reads and writes for each bit of memory. But it's a very high number. You would have to access the flash drive non-stop for something like a decade before it wears out.
And even then, the data doesn't corrupt or anything like that. There are safeguards. It simply switches to read-only.
The limit is on the number of reads and writes for each bit of memory. But it's a very high number. You would have to access the flash drive non-stop for something like a decade before it wears out.
And even then, the data doesn't corrupt or anything like that. There are safeguards. It simply switches to read-only.
[quote name='Vegan']Flash doesn't "lose its charge" if it's just sitting there. It requires electrical stimulation to change the bits. It's not like there's an internal battery that needs to keep something always-on to prevent data-loss.
The limit is on the number of reads and writes for each bit of memory. But it's a very high number. You would have to access the flash drive non-stop for something like a decade before it wears out.
And even then, the data doesn't corrupt or anything like that. There are safeguards. It simply switches to read-only.[/QUOTE]
You've obviously never had a flash memory/SD card/etc go bad-- I assure you they DO die and take data with them. I have a couple XD cards and some crappy Kingston SD cards to prove it. (that Kingston was trying to make me go through hoops to prove they're bad-- it's like "I copy files to them. the files are corrupted when I try to read them back. What more do I need to do?" -- used to love the brand but their quality control [and customer support] went to hell sometime in 2008) I've also had a couple USB flash drives die, not sure if due to being zapped by static or the flash itself.
I've had more flash memory units die than DVDRs, if that means anything. (I've had almost no DVD recordable discs die)
Point is-- store MULTIPLE copies of anything TRULY important. It sucks they can die but the nice part of digital storage is at least it's compact.
The limit is on the number of reads and writes for each bit of memory. But it's a very high number. You would have to access the flash drive non-stop for something like a decade before it wears out.
And even then, the data doesn't corrupt or anything like that. There are safeguards. It simply switches to read-only.[/QUOTE]
You've obviously never had a flash memory/SD card/etc go bad-- I assure you they DO die and take data with them. I have a couple XD cards and some crappy Kingston SD cards to prove it.
(that Kingston was trying to make me go through hoops to prove they're bad-- it's like "I copy files to them. the files are corrupted when I try to read them back. What more do I need to do?" -- used to love the brand but their quality control [and customer support] went to hell sometime in 2008) I've also had a couple USB flash drives die, not sure if due to being zapped by static or the flash itself.I've had more flash memory units die than DVDRs, if that means anything. (I've had almost no DVD recordable discs die)
Point is-- store MULTIPLE copies of anything TRULY important. It sucks they can die but the nice part of digital storage is at least it's compact.
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Wolfpup
CAGiversary!
Like for parts of the flash going bad? Not sure how great the protection is for that, though for SSDs it's probably a lot better (we hope...)
Just sitting there though flash loses it's charge over time. I *think* it might be something like theoretically 100 years for SLC, and 10 years for MLC (which is what everyone actually has).
Just sitting there though flash loses it's charge over time. I *think* it might be something like theoretically 100 years for SLC, and 10 years for MLC (which is what everyone actually has).
bread's done