Even so CD and DVD manufacturers claim that CDs and DVDs last for 100 years, but who has the ideal temperature of 74°F/25° C and 50% humidity in their office at all times. A more realistic number is probably 5 to 10 years, especially if the CD is being labeled or written on. The reflective surface of the disc is deteriorating and cannot be read by the laser in the drive.

What other options are there?

Hard drives are lasting longer now than they did 10 or 20 years ago. But after 5 years there is no guarantee that the data can still be retrieved. For short term data storage hard drives offer a fast and simple solution.

USB Memory Sticks, some of them come with 30 year warranty, provide long term data stability and ease-of-use. They have to protected against power surges (lightning).

Memory cards, as used in digital cameras, use the same technology to store data as the USB sticks. Make sure to use the ones labeled “SLC” (Single-Level-Cell) as opposed to “MLC” (Multi-Level-Cell). The SLC cards can handle up to 100,000 re-write cycles.

The good old tape is usually good for about 30 years. If you have a lot of data you want to preserve for a long time, home or office. Tape is still a good choice.

Paper and micro-film are made for real long term solutions, however doesn’t store movies and pictures. As long as the paper is free of wood and non-acidic, it can last for centuries.

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Particulate dust, very small particles that are smaller then 1/10th of a human hair, is responsible for the death of up to 370,000 Europeans per year and shortens the average life expectancy by about 3 years, reported the German SWR radio station today.

Dust sources are for example the particulates that come of your car tires when you’re driving. In a household or office environment the bigger particulate sources are laser printers and copiers and vacuums.

To reduce the particulate dust at the workplace, best is to replace laser printers, with ink jet printers and solid ink printers. These printers don’t use toner. Also, open windows and doors as much as possible.

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A couple German newspapers wrote about a study on “health risks of toner dust” by toxicologist Volker Mersch-Sundermann this weekend. According to the study the dust exposure in a room with a copy machine or printer can double.

Worse, when the printer starts, ultra-fine dust can be blown into the room. Those ultra-fine dust particles can reach the blood stream through the lungs. The dust consists of a complex mixes of copper and nickel, which can be responsible for allergies, as well as highly toxic tin compounds and ozone.

Mersch-Sundermann says, they are more concerned about the components than the concentration of the dust. The long-term exposure and impact of the dust for chronic illnesses is the biggest concern. Experiments with lung cell culture show that the DNA of those cells can be damaged when they come in contact with the dust, which can increase the risk of tumors.

People with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome should be very concerned about the concentration and the composition of the dust. I talked to one toner victim a couple of days ago, who told me that toner exposure and then the ride home in a brand new car put her over the edge and she’s been with MCS since then.

Toner dust has for years been suspect to be linked to chronic asthma and potentially other chronic illnesses.

Sensitive people or people concerned about their health, and people diagnosed with Multiple-Chemical-Sensitivity-Syndrome should stay away from laser based copiers and printers. An ink jet or solid ink jet as available by various manufacturers is the better choice.

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