I own a SAMSUNG SE-506CB/RSBDE CD/DVD/Blu-ray writer which also supports M-Discs.
My question is very simple: if I burnt a M-Disc DVD/Blu-Ray and inserted it into an ordinary DVD/Blu-Ray reader (commercial ones), would the M-Disc be readable?
Or are M-Disc readable only in specifically-enabled M-Disc-enabled drives?
Tyrexionibus
MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2), 2,53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 8 GB RAM
High quality, ordinary dye based disks are considered good for about 10 years if kept away from light and excessive heat. That includes the so-called 100 year gold disks since the only thing that's different about them is that they have a gold reflective layer rather than aluminum. But the dye they use has the same lifespan as any other quality dye based disk. So you're paying more for no extra life.
I mark each Blu-ray disk I make of archived client work with the date they were made. When they reach the 10 year mark, I copy everything off and burn a new replacement disk.
The tests done by PCWorld demonstrate many Blu-ray burners can read M-Disc DVDs, but cannot read M-Disc Blu-rays.
Note the writer used for burning the Millenniatas was the same I have, the SE-506CB.
So what? I'm planning to buy a brand new SONY BDP-S5500 Blu-ray player and use Millenniata Blu-rays for archiving movies. Do you think it will be able to read them?
From http://www.mdisc.com/faq/ :
“Can the M-Disc DVD be read by regular DVD drives?”
“Yes. The M-READY™ Drive engraves the M-DISC™ using a compatible data format that can be read by most quality DVD drives.”
So what? ***
Yes, it seems about 90% of drives will recognize them, but I would bet that would only count for drives and players made within the past three to five years. Older than that, and I wouldn't be so sure.
Here's one item I ran across at PCWorld. Note the section in particular for DVD and Blu-ray drives. They had about the same predicted success rate. I didn't look up the drives they tested though to see how old each model was.
Can't say. I've read up on M-Disc a few times in the past, but have no intention of purchasing a unit myself. Not sure if there's any other users here who are familiar with it, and can give you better, and direct information.
In your opinion, are ordinary Blu-ray disks “strong enough” to last in time? In other words, is there a need for a 1,000-year, rock-like disk like Millenniata? Or are common disks sufficient for archiving data and movies?
From what I've been able to find on the subject, unless a drive's or set-top player's firmware is written to recognize an M-Disc, it's unlikely to play in that device.
Are M-Disc disks readable in any ordinary DVD/Blu-ray drive?
