CD's freezing

[ozdream]

G"day all, I was reading on a different post about a person worring about CD freezing (as in COLD).

Is there any adverse affects by letting CD's freeze:confused:

I lived up north for a year and all my CD's audio / data froze when I left them in a truck over night and no worries.

[hard candy]

It shouldn't harm Icecast but Firebird may be a little slow to start. :)
We're talking about plastic that is pitted not a liquid, no harm unless you grab them with a bare hand.

[Satanic Atheist]

Originally posted by hard candy
We're talking about plastic that is pitted not a liquid

True, but what about the liquid/crystal structure of CDRWs - are they likely to be damaged?

Also, I think the most likely problem is the plastic becoming brittle and deformed from the cold. The expansion/contraction factors and coefficients between with the metal, the dye and the plastic are almost certain to be different - the thing was not designed for temperature tolerance but for data stability.

If the plastic contracts more than the metal, it can crack and become brittle. If it's the other way around, a vacuum can form inside the CD sucking the plastic in also stressing it and causing damage.

Obviously, these are for extremely low temperatures and not your usual "just below freezing" temperatures, but I still wouldn't want to leave CDs in a cold Canadian winter on too many nights.

James

[hlrguy]

When working in Chicago many a cold cold, COLD winter day, there is no problem with cold CDs, I always listened to them in the car, freezing cold. The only time there is a problem, and this is true of any electronics is a quick change from cold to warm. Now outside, the humidity was still zero, so the warmup that happened in the car was no problem, but bringing them from the car into the house, instantly a sheen of fog would coat them (and anything else like a computer, etc). They need to be left along to warm up and 'dry' out for at least an hour before use.

hlrguy

[hard candy]

freezing CDs (http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/digital/messages/21667.html)


Freezing CDs to prolong their life (http://club.cdfreaks.com/archive/topic/52807.html)

And a government source:
National Institute of Standards (http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/carefordisc/disc_care/conditions.html#tempandRH)

I don't think we have to worry for ordinary data. If the data is very critical, why are you leaving them in the car in the first place?
As for me, I'm freezing my music CDs as soon as I get home!:D

[Satanic Atheist]

From your second link, hard candy, there doesn't seem to be any improvement. The fact that the second pass had fewer failures is possibly due to the cache.

Also, his tests were non-scientific and can be discounted instantly.

There appears to be no evidence that freezing CDs makes them last longer (they are not biological) but there is also no question as to whether it damages them.

I'd like to see the official reports into CD longevity. Twenty years is nowhere near long enough to judge the permanence of a medium.

James