Ask HN: Availability of Writable Optical Media?
This machine is unable to boot from USB, so the only options are an external Firewire drive (hard to find), netboot (possible, but quite some work to set up) or a (single-layer) DVD in the internal DVD-ROM drive.
I haven't used writable optical media in years. It seems that, at least here in Germany, inexpensive blank writable CD and DVD media are still readily available, but I wonder for how long.
So I'm thinking of a "lifetime buy" (maybe a 100-pack CDs and DVDs each), but I'm worried about the durability of unwritten optical media.
I would love to hear about your experiences with (long-term) availability and storability of optical media. Except for keeping the discs out of the sunlight and heat, are there recommendations for storing blank media?