M-DISC: The storage medium that lasts 1000 years

Early on this media was the best for long term archiving, but as with all things this is no longer the case.

Both the player and the media cost quite a bit initially, but it was worth it when you needed to know the media would not degrade in austere environments.

Unfortunately, in recent years SONY decided the media product was to be replaced and made a brand instead, and anyone who didn't catch that press release kept buying the media that degrades, and found out later about the issues (after degradation and loss had already occurred).

This happened sometime between 2020 and 2022 iirc.

All MDISC branded discs were replaced with bluray disc media while keeping the inflated price tag for the brand.

Degradation of data is important for some of us, which is why this product had a marketable place with archivists, where BD simply would not cut it. Data needed to be archived for the long-term (i.e. > 10 years).

The degradation of the dye/film in sunlight for BD media was a significant problem, and remains a problem today.

In a 10 year period, varying greatly depending on UV/light exposure, there is detectable degradation in any BD-based media.

I owned one, perhaps two, Blu-Ray drives which supported this format. It was the best I could do for high-capacity backups without a tape drive.

I used 100GB BDXL discs, not M-DISC media, but nevertheless, they lasted longer than I needed them; the drive outlasted the rest of the system too. Mission accomplished.