Re: [ARSCLIST] water damaged cds

["Peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is just hearsay, as I haven't seen the discs, but I have been getting
reports of DVD's damaged by the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina.  We are
getting tapes in for restoration on a regular basis and, thus, are in
contact with a substantial number of people with wet media in the area.  In
discussing the situation and the restoration potential of their tape
materials with some of the hurricane victims, a number of individuals have
told me of DVD material they have retrieved that are showing severe
discoloration between the layers and exhibiting playback failure.  While I
have not examined any of these discs, it appears that submersion in
contaminated water at elevated temperatures can damage some DVD's.

FYI: so far, recovery of tape materials is consistent with results from
other flood scenarios: ferric oxide tapes exhibit the greatest recovery
rates (90% +), MP tapes show somewhat lesser recovery rates (approx. 75%)
and ME tapes are a 50/50 proposition.  We are already seeing some ME tapes
that have no (and I do mean virtually zero) recording surface left on large
portions of the tape.  As we are continuing to receive materials, it should
be interesting (but, likely, unfortunate) to see the results of longer
submersion/exposure times on MP and ME tapes.

We don't work with the recovery of hard drives and I was wondering if anyone
on the list has been seeing any drives recovered from the hurricane.  I'd be
interested to hear (even if it is just hearsay) how well high density drives
or removable hard drives are surviving a few weeks submersion in
contaminated flood waters.  Also, if someone is experiencing success with
these materials, it would be helpful to have a contact to forward inquiries
to.


Peter Brothers
President
SPECS BROS., LLC
(201) 440-6589
www.specsbros.com

Restoration and Disaster Recovery Service Since 1983

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Joe_Iraci@xxxxxxxxx
> Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 4:08 PM
> To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] water damaged cds
>
>
> I did some research on soaking CDs and DVDs of various formats a few years
> ago. Basically, for CDs/CD-Rs, etc, it comes down to disc quality. A good
> top protective layer leaves discs in great shape even after soaking in
> clean tap water at room temperature for one month. Discs of poorer quality
> can suffer large increases in error rates after only a couple of days of
> similar soaking. Fortunately, cool water soaking halts the increase in
> error rate significantly for the poor quality discs. Therefore, if discs
> cannot be recovered immediately, they can be left wet in cool
> (refrigerator
> temperature) water for a couple of weeks without any problems.
>
> For DVDs, no problems with extensive soaking in clean room temperature tap
> water were encountered (likely because that sensitive metal reflective
> layer is sandwiched between thick polycarbonate).
>
> Discs with adhesive labels on them did not like getting wet and
> error rates
> rose significantly, unless the label was removed without damaging
> the disc.
>
> Joe Iraci
> Senior Conservation Scientist
> Canadian Conservation Institute
>
>
>
>
>              Siue Moffat
>
>              <bk913@xxxxxxxxxx
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>              rleton.ca>
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>              <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx         [ARSCLIST] water damaged
> cds
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>              03/10/2005 03:35
>
>              PM
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>              Please respond to
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>              bk913@xxxxxxxxxxx
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> Hello,
>
> I've been getting some excellent info on water damaged records and
> cassette tapes off this listserv - thanks! What do you experts have to
> say about CDs and DVDs?
>
> thanks
>
> Siue
>
>