[conspire] Advisability of CD-RW or DVD-RW for Distros, Installations?

[Eric De MUND]

Mark,

Mark Weisler <mark at weisler-saratoga-ca.us>:
] I wonder what you all think of using rewritable CDs and DVDs for
] burning distros and installing from them.
]
] I have used CD -R and DVD -R for distros but got to thinking that the
] distro will typically be useful for only a few months until the next
] distro comes out and then the CD or DVD is pretty much headed for
] Coasterville.

A year or two ago I finally came to the same conclusion after one of
my annual purges of the Sterilite boxes that hold my software here. As
usual, I was throwing away fistfuls of discs that were 3 major versions
back of current; this time, however, a lightbulb finally flickered on.

Today, my "environmental friendliness ratio" (rewritable versus write
once) is still low, probably only at 10%, but I -am- inching upwards.

Some personal notes:

o   I haven't yet experienced any failures (writing, erasing, or
    reading) a rewritable.

o   I erase rewritables not when I need them but instead long in
    advance, while I'm doing other tasks. This way, my "out of pocket"
    erasure expense remains low, perhaps 15 seconds of focused attention
    per disc.

o   I'm not concerned with media shelf life. There's a reasonable
    chance, that when the media finally gives up the ghost, years down
    the road, one will be hard pressed to put one's hands on a suitable
    disc reader.

    Also, the time-to-obsolescence of the software burned on a disc, be
    it write-once or rewritable, is so much less than the lifetime of
    the disc. That big difference is what makes the rewritable disc a
    clear personal win as well as an environmental win, in my view.

o   Keep your eyes on the daily Fry's sales circular in the Mercury News,
    also available on line, because sales on GQ (Fry's house brand) re-
    writables come around like clockwork. It's a generic brand, but I've
    only experienced half a dozen bad discs over the last 10 years.

Regards,
Eric
--
"I recently went to a new doctor and noticed he was located in something
called the Professional Building. I felt better right away." --George
Carlin

Eric De MUND   | Ixian Systems           | Jab: eadixian at jabber.org/main
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