I am not sure if this best location for this question, if not please move where you think appropriate. But I thought it would be a GREAT newbie question. I am searching for the best method to store DVD's to preserve longevity? I have seen some actual standard DVD holders that will touch the bottom surface of a DVD. You can tell by slightly pressing the edge of the DVD while in the DVD case and see that there is no give. I use black, slim jewel cases that have a small outer ring that rests against the hub to keep that surface off the plastic. But why store vertically? If the disc is not touching the plastic then why would that make a difference? I can see why CD Wallets are bad for burned media but not for pressed media. I have used CD Wallets for the last 15 years for pressed CD's and burned CD's and never had a problem. Not sure why this would make a difference for DVD's? I would appreciate any feedback on this issue.
Hello. As I read recently, the reason you store discs vertically for a long period of time (years) is because if you store them flat, gravity pushes down on the disc and the outer part of the disc will sag down. Since data is stored densely on a DVD, even a disc that is a tiny bit unbalanced may not be read properly. It's true: I have dvds that I applied labels to and they give me problems now. I also need some advice on long term storage for DVDRs. I just moved my collection from slim jewel cases to binders. These binders (from unikeep.com) and their sleeves are 100% polypropylene material (special kind of plastic that does not cause disc to deteriorate) and the sleeves are non-woven so as not to be abrasive when inserting/removing the disc. The binders are fully enclosed and the rings are 'D' shaped to let the disc pages lay flat. The good thing about this is that I save a lot of space versus slim jewel cases and it is very organized. However, I feel like the pages of the binder should have some kind of backing to them, to be stiff so that when flipping pages the discs' movement is minimized (it's possible they bend slightly when pages are turned). Would 'stiff' disc pages be beneficial? Also, are slim cases better than my strategy or what would be the ideal way to do this other than full size dvd cases? (One more note: I just noticed that the slim cases have an outer ring to support the disc in addition to the center ring. So the plastic touches the disc directly, but is it of concern since its all the way at the outer border?)
