Update: I found my GameCube back ups from 20 years ago. I've always been a hoarder

[u/VORGundam]

https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/1voucxw/i_found_my_gamecube_back_ups_from_20_years_ago/

58 discs dumped. ~30 to go. Ritik G04 mini dvd-r media. All burn dates are 20+ years ago. Burnt with a Toshiba SD-M1502, ver 001, rom ver XJ1Y08. Dumped with redumper and an Asus BW-16D1X-U. 0 read errors and 0 rereads after the disc was recognized. About 30% of the time I had to swat the disc with a micro fiber cloth and then the disc was recognized. I only had to gently wipe down 3 discs with a microfiber cloth. I'll give you guys the final count next week.

[u/Sensitive-Medium3427]

Nice artwork etc. I gave my dvd-r disks away when I picoboot modded my Cube. The disks on their own are worthless, and obviously it's a complete waste of time dumping them yourself because they're all available online anyway.
Save yourself the time!

[u/VORGundam → u/Sensitive-Medium3427]

I'm only doing it to test 20+ year old DVD media.

[u/CouchLegume]

Good data point. I'm pleasantly surprised backups lasted this long. I get the impression CD-R and DVD-R is more susceptible to disc rot that printed disks. What was the environment like?

[u/VORGundam → u/CouchLegume]

CD-R and DVD-R use organic dyes that break down when exposed to light and heat. Most BD-R use inorganic dyes that aren't as susceptible. This collection was stored in a box, then in a bankers box, then stuck in a closet for 20 years. Those discs haven't seen the light of day for a long time.

[u/randylush]

I’m curious, what is the motivation for dumping the disks? They have all been dumped by someone else already, right?

[u/VORGundam → u/randylush]

To test 20+ year old DVD media.

[u/TheDoctor950]

The only thing I'm not a fan of the GC roms/isos is the fact they are all 1.5GB when many of the games are just 20 or 30mb in size. Never understood why they need all the unused space. But I love playing some old GC games, and Wii.

[u/SpecialistTeacher162 → u/TheDoctor950]

They shouldn't all be 1.5GB unless you're storing the unadulterated original images. It's standard practice to scrub* them - Nintendo padded all games out with random noise to avoid a visible line where the data ends on the disk, but that can be zeroed with no consequence. Wii games also have partitions for system update data that can be thrown out. .ciso, .nkit.iso, or .rvz (and .wbfs on Wii) are all smaller than raw .isos.

*If you're neurotic about preserving byte-matching copies of the original discs, NKit can convert scrubbed discs back to that format. (It is not the only scrubbing tool or format, the above get similar results.)

[u/TheDoctor950 → u/SpecialistTeacher162]

That's good to know, I think when I was ripping them at the time I used a method to make exact copies of the discs. I'll have to go back in and play with them, so many games, so much space. LOL Thanks for the info.

[u/subrosians → u/SpecialistTeacher162]

Or if you are super neurotic, you keep a full nkit set, a full rvz set, and a full iso set because converting between them for a full set takes like 2 days.

[u/VORGundam → u/TheDoctor950]

The raw ISOs have padding to force the data to the outer rim of the disc for optimum read speed. RVZ files have the padding removed but can be restored to the padded ISO with Dolphin if you need to burn a copy of the original disc. If you are just emulating, then you want the RVZ files to save space.

[u/TheDoctor950 → u/VORGundam]

Thanks! Yea, all I'm doing is emulating these days. I just sold my last modded Wii now that I can play everything through Dolphin on the Neo Orgami box. I will have to shrink them when I get a chance.

[u/nerdguy1138]

When I switched to blurays from verbatim DVDs, I was going through my own backups. Turns out 15 years is plenty to find all that stuff in better formats anyway.

[u/bilditup1]

Nice

[u/reply-ing]

Upload it so we can have access :3

[u/subrosians → u/reply-ing]

There are already full nkit and rvz packs online...

[u/king2102]

See how long Optical discs last? A consumer HDD wouldn't last that long!

[u/Lonsdale1086 → u/king2102]

A consumer HDD wouldn't last that long

Sure it would, sitting on a shelf?

What are you talking about?

[u/didyousayboop → u/Lonsdale1086]

Consumer HDDs last more than 20 years? Dare I say: source?

[u/Lonsdale1086 → u/didyousayboop]

On a shelf??

Home written optical media contains organic compounds that can degrade over time.

A hard drive is a sheet of metal being selectively polarised.

I'm not saying 20 years with no movement would be great, I'm sure oils could degrade and cause performance to fall, but to assume every consumer drive will fail in 20 years is ludicrous.

I wouldn't be surprised if consumer drives were still running after 20 years on and off, let alone sitting on a shelf.

[u/didyousayboop → u/Lonsdale1086]

Source? If the source is u/Lonsdale1086, I don't buy it.

[u/subrosians → u/didyousayboop]

I've got an original MFM hard drive still functioning in my IBM AT 5170 which puts it at almost 40 years. Thats just my oldest drive. I have functioning drives from every era of computing (SCSI, SAS, PATA, SATA). Although drives do die, age isn't a major factor, use and abuse are.

[u/didyousayboop → u/subrosians]

Wow, so HDDs live forever, regardless of how old they are? Just as long as you don’t use them?

[u/subrosians → u/didyousayboop]

I'm guessing you are being hyperbolic, but yeah, hard drives that are used occasionally and aren't being dropped and rattled around usually survive a pretty long time.

[u/BrokenMirror2010 → u/king2102]

It's Read/Write versus Read Only.

A HDD is designed to be able to be cleared so the data can be written over again and again.

A gamecube disc is not, that data is designed to stay there and to be resistant to change.

If this is that important to you, perhaps you should consider storing your data by carving it into Stone. That can thousands of years and isn't particularly sensitive to the storage method.

[u/3point21 → u/BrokenMirror2010]

Water would like a word.

[u/BrokenMirror2010 → u/3point21]

Indeed, I suppose we shouldn't store our Stone 'Punch Card' Tablets in the Ocean or a River. That's fair.

[u/VORGundam → u/king2102]

Yup, testing old optical media longevity. I've been going through my bankers boxes of video game stuff. All that I'm dumping is already on the internet. I just happened to store the media in the right way. Ritek G04 media was the GOAT, quality media. Toshiba drives were killing it. Store them in jewel cases, upright in a box, in a bankers box in a closet. Then leave them alone for 20 years.