I somehow have a bunch of blank cd and dvds that i got from thrift stores and parents. There good for some linux os’s but besides that im not sure what else to put on them or do with them. I would like to create a sort of binder for rainy days with various media but im stumped.
Im asking what type of media i should put on theses dvds/cds. I would do music but im not the biggest music fan sadly.
Burn AOL free trial discs and leave them here and there
Whose ready for some AOL ultimate Frisbee?
To answer the question, I don’t think they should be used for anything. Keep a small stack for a rainy day and get rid of the rest. There is a reason they are all it thrift stores and being given away for free. Their are much better alternatives out their for storage. Unless you are a hoarder. Then, just add them to your pile of crap you will never use/need again.
I have burned thousands of CD/DVDs in my life but maybe only 10 in the past 15 years or so.
From personal experience, depending on how old they are, use them as coasters.
With very few exceptions, consumer grade optical media is really only good for sharing files.
Back in the 2000’s I had been using them to store backups of files. Found out the hard way that that was not a suitable use for them when I had a hard drive fail. Disk rot is a bitch if you’re not expecting it.
That said, if you and your family still have CD players, you might think about making them mix CDs. It’s also possible to burn your archived movies or tv shows onto them in DVD or Video-CD formats. I expect most DVD players can still read the Video CD format.
I’ve turned some into fidget spinners with hot glue and marbles.
Sega Dreamcast games
I used to pirate movies my older neighbour wanted to see and burn them on blank DVDs because she felt way more comfortable having discs than streaming. That could be an option if you have a tech-averse person in your life you care about.
She had a bunch of empty cases too, and would make customer covers for each movie with a sharpie and a piece of paper.
If you have a car with a CD player, I’d recommend burning some CDs. It’s so refreshing having a small collection of banger CDs to choose from. Not to mention that you can insert and eject without being too distracted.
I used to go to Wikipedia and click the random article button to get a name for my burned mix CDs. I think my favorite was called “mountaintop removal”.
I would say family photos for archival.
They will outlast your HDD nd SSDs
VS HDD seems a bit unlikely. The typical cheap optical media isn’t designed or meant for long term archival. There are more expensive types that are meant for long term storage but I’m pretty sure that’s not what OP is talking about, especially if it’s just random blank discs from thrift stores, etc.
But to your point even cheap optical media might outlast SSDs since those tend to lose their saved data if stored unpowered for x years.
even cheap optical media might outlast SSDs since those tend to lose their saved data if stored unpowered for x years.
I wasn’t aware of this. Would you happen to have any handy links where I could read more?
Normal DVDs are not good for archival. Cheap ones can degrade in less than 10 years. You want to get the M-disc ones for long term storage.
I’ve kind of wanted to do this: https://imgur.com/haxorus-created-from-broken-cds-Uot1FSF
I use them as coasters for drinks.
But Blanks are still useful, I will literally never run out of unusable driver CDs, scratched CD-Rs, AOL cover discs, failed DVD burns, etc …
also floppy discs don’t shed foil flakes when they get wet, just superior coasters.
Burn porn or GoG games onto them and leave them in random bushes in various public parks and gardens
I could see Beavis and Butthead doing this neeheh heh
Hahahahaa
You… I have no words
…porn…
leave them in random bushes in various public parks and gardens
Please don’t do this; kids are stupid and don’t fear malware and will be among the first people to find this
Do kids these days know what a CD is and have a computer with a disk drive? And even if they did, would they care enough to try it? Sounds very unlikely.
I was a dumb young bitch who had a friend show me forest porn magazines and I turned out okay
I like your style, but I guess both would get you into legal trouble.
Only if you get caught
If you’ve got a lot of content on a Steam account, you can make physical install discs
Put at least one of them in a microwave.
Pretty neat light show!
Technically, kind of, you are… burning the disk, in a sense, lol.
Large scale exterior wall art.
Sharpen their edges and use them as shurikens (or chakrams)
In case anyone is curious, an M-Disk burner can make optical backups intended to last long-term. Can be costly though.
There is no special burner that turns regular DVDs and CDs into M-discs. M-discs were a special product that were special because of the disc itself. This doesn’t answer OP.
Lessons from this were applied when designing BluRay discs which are much more resilient than DVDs.
M-discs are just premium BluRays now. Probably not worth the difference in cost given you can buy two BDs from two different batches for the same price as one M-disc. Just avoid LTH BDs which use quicker degrading components.
M-discs are a meme that were made for and only had relevance in the DVD era.
