Gold CD-R for Storage of Digital Files

by Jessica
(California, USA)

I have read on several websites that the gold CD-R is the best disc for the storage of digital files. Is this true and what exactly is a gold CD-R?

A gold CD-R or gold recordable compact disc is not simply one that looks gold. Often people mistake a disc with a gold top side or label side as the gold CD-R, but really these discs are not necessarily the true gold discs.

Recordable CDs have as part of their structure a metal layer, which reflects the reading laser light of the player back to the player's detector in order to create a signal after the data layer is read. For CD-Rs, the metal layer can be silver, silver alloy, or gold. Of the three, gold is inert or in other words very stable chemically and will not degrade when exposed to damaging chemicals or pollutants. This is critical because of the importance of the metal layer in the functioning of the disc.

In recordable CDs, storage of the digital information is in a dye layer. The gold CD-R uses a dye called phthalocyanine dye. It is a light green dye and therefore, when you look at the base of the disc or non-label side, the disc appears gold. The true gold CD-Rs appear gold from the non-label side of the disc. This dye is very stable towards light, heat, and humidity and when combined with a gold metal layer you get a very stable CD-R that is rated to last over one hundred years.

Thus, if longevity is a concern, then the gold CD-R is the best digital storage media available. The one drawback is its low storage capacity compared to some other less stable digital media. This low storage makes it unsuitable for some types of digital files such high-quality digital video or audio or very high-quality digital photographs. For most other digital files, it should do quite well in terms of meeting your digital storage needs.

Visit the gold CD-R page for more information.