Blu Ray M discs

[Pc6777]

What's the lifespan of media in burned Blu Ray DVDs? I might get the m disc varient but Is it really worth it over standard Blu Ray discs for long term storage? I'm ethier getting the 25 gb varient ir the bdxl 100 gb discs. Also how long do the drives last? I want to be able to read the discs in the future when drives will be less common, do the burners have a shelf life? 

[Quackers101]

I guess it might depend on the quality, but not sure about DVDs.

But if it's like other DVDs they will last 30-100 years? if handled correctly and stored correctly.

Edited February 5, 2021 by Quackers101

[Jumballi]

M disks are different from blu rays and dvds, you need compatible players and I believe M disks and burners are rare.

 

burners do have a shelf life, there’s a moving part and it will eventually break, ne it through friction by being used or rust.

[Pc6777]

13 minutes ago, Jumballi said:

M disks are different from blu rays and dvds, you need compatible players and I believe M disks and burners are rare.

 

burners do have a shelf life, there’s a moving part and it will eventually break, ne it through friction by being used or rust.

I know of burners that can still read disks after 13 plus years, how long could one last if not exposed to bad conditions? Like 30 years? Will they still make players in the future for legacy stuff, kind of how they still make record players in smaller quantities. And they have Blu Ray m discs, it's a Blu Ray disc that's also an m disc and I just ordered a burner that's is m disc and Blu Ray compatible.

 

https://www.newegg.com/verbatim-4x-25gb-bd-r/p/N82E16817130286?item=9SIA0ZX3745296

[Pc6777]

5 hours ago, Grumpy Old Man said:

Wrong. Almost ALL DVD / BD-RW drives support M-discs. M-discs are quite well available as DVDs, but BDs are rather poorly available (demand?)

I used a lot of the dvd ones but i wanted larger discs so in trying out Blu ray

[Jumballi]

7 hours ago, Grumpy Old Man said:

Wrong. Almost ALL DVD / BD-RW drives support M-discs. M-discs are quite well available as DVDs, but BDs are rather poorly available (demand?)

My statement on availability is based on my experience on finding them in stores, with most best buys in Southern California no longer carrying m disks in store since I last checked in 2019.

9 hours ago, Pc6777 said:

I know of burners that can still read disks after 13 plus years, how long could one last if not exposed to bad conditions? Like 30 years? Will they still make players in the future for legacy stuff, kind of how they still make record players in smaller quantities. And they have Blu Ray m discs, it's a Blu Ray disc that's also an m disc and I just ordered a burner that's is m disc and Blu Ray compatible.

 

https://www.newegg.com/verbatim-4x-25gb-bd-r/p/N82E16817130286?item=9SIA0ZX3745296

In theory it should last a long while, but but there’s a lot of parts that could go bad from the laser to the spindle. You could strike gold and find one that lasts 50 years, or hit an average of 10 years, or be unlucky and have it break after the 2 year warranty ends. The odds aren’t so bad that they’re stacked against you, but rather there’s a change they’re not in your favor either.

 

I can’t say if or if not they’ll make this stuff in 30-40 years, just look at vhs, a lot of people including myself have vhs tapes, but it’s near impossible for your average joe to find a vhs player. Now I’m more hopeful for dvd and possibly blu ray as it’s more popular and simpler to use as its digital. But that’s not a guarantee.
 

Game consoles and laptops now sell without disk drives, and some movies I’d like to watch will never get a physical home release. This leads me to say that while yes m disk does offer a compelling set of features, you should not have all your eggs in one basket. Have back ups in other mediums, or use the cloud to store them, just in case this bet doesn’t work out.

[Pc6777]

1 hour ago, Jumballi said:

My statement on availability is based on my experience on finding them in stores, with most best buys in Southern California no longer carrying m disks in store since I last checked in 2019.

In theory it should last a long while, but but there’s a lot of parts that could go bad from the laser to the spindle. You could strike gold and find one that lasts 50 years, or hit an average of 10 years, or be unlucky and have it break after the 2 year warranty ends. The odds aren’t so bad that they’re stacked against you, but rather there’s a change they’re not in your favor either.

 

I can’t say if or if not they’ll make this stuff in 30-40 years, just look at vhs, a lot of people including myself have vhs tapes, but it’s near impossible for your average joe to find a vhs player. Now I’m more hopeful for dvd and possibly blu ray as it’s more popular and simpler to use as its digital. But that’s not a guarantee.
 

Game consoles and laptops now sell without disk drives, and some movies I’d like to watch will never get a physical home release. This leads me to say that while yes m disk does offer a compelling set of features, you should not have all your eggs in one basket. Have back ups in other mediums, or use the cloud to store them, just in case this bet doesn’t work out.

well I wont really use the blu ray burner a lot, I will just make disks with it and watch a movie with it every so often, the rest of the time it will be siting around doing nothing, I might get 2 and keep one in the box just in case so I can read them in 30 years, but like you said there's no guarantee and its up to luck. also I feel like the regular 25 gb blu ray m discs are a better option because they have better compatibility, BDXL is only compatible with certain readers. also whats the cheapest blu ray reader? The r/w m disc blu ray drives cost 60 at the lowest, and I cant find anything that does blu ray below 60, are all of them really that expensive?

[Pc6777]

also what's the compatibility like? can normal blu ray drives read blu ray dual layer?

[Quackers101]

if this is blu ray vs UHD blu ray (4K discs) not sure about the tech, but you need one that works on that, so any blu ray doesn't work?

has to work for UHD or those higher capacity ones? (if that is triple layer or goes up to that?)

[Pc6777]

1 minute ago, Quackers101 said:

if this is blu ray vs UHD blu ray (4K discs) not sure about the tech, but you need one that works on that, so any blu ray doesn't work?

has to work for UHD or those higher capacity ones? (if that is triple layer or goes up to that?)

I know my old blu ray drive can read and write to dual layer blu rays , I think dual layers are compatible with most drives even older ones, but triple and quad layer need special drives it seems like. and im not using them for movies or 4k vidioe or anything like that, just data. 

[Jumballi]

3 hours ago, Pc6777 said:

well I wont really use the blu ray burner a lot, I will just make disks with it and watch a movie with it every so often, the rest of the time it will be siting around doing nothing, I might get 2 and keep one in the box just in case so I can read them in 30 years, but like you said there's no guarantee and its up to luck. also I feel like the regular 25 gb blu ray m discs are a better option because they have better compatibility, BDXL is only compatible with certain readers. also whats the cheapest blu ray reader? The r/w m disc blu ray drives cost 60 at the lowest, and I cant find anything that does blu ray below 60, are all of them really that expensive?

60 is really cheap, in fact I wouldn’t trust it. I went with a $100(discounted to $80 at time of purchase) drive from LG, and talking to some friends who also bought drives, I made the right choice. 
 

I used the be a heavy console game, to the point where I’ve worn out the laser on 3 WIIs, 1 xbox 360, and 2 playstation 4s. That’s since 2009, so I speak from experience when I say that they’re not meant to last forever.

 

2 hours ago, Pc6777 said:

also what's the compatibility like? can normal blu ray drives read blu ray dual layer?

Almost any drive should be able to read dual layer, writing though is another story. As far as I’m aware, best buy doesn’t sell any drives that can burn dual layer disks and I’m too lazy to do more research. I wish you luck in that endeavor.

[Pc6777]

9 minutes ago, Jumballi said:

60 is really cheap, in fact I wouldn’t trust it. I went with a $100(discounted to $80 at time of purchase) drive from LG, and talking to some friends who also bought drives, I made the right choice. 
 

I used the be a heavy console game, to the point where I’ve worn out the laser on 3 WIIs, 1 xbox 360, and 2 playstation 4s. That’s since 2009, so I speak from experience when I say that they’re not meant to last forever.

 

Almost any drive should be able to read dual layer, writing though is another story. As far as I’m aware, best buy doesn’t sell any drives that can burn dual layer disks and I’m too lazy to do more research. I wish you luck in that endeavor.

tru, but I will only use the drive for a few hours to burn stuff then it will sit around and never really be used. Im not going to put 100,00 hours into the drive or anything like that. and I only need one drive that can write, and a few backups that can read the disks i make. this is the drive I got, I might get another that's better. https://www.newegg.com/lg-wh14ns40-internal-blu-ray-burner/p/N82E16827136250?Item=N82E16827136250