Discussions about the thorny topic of computer data preservation are swirling again. This time, optical disc collectors are highlighting the danger of catastrophic failures of compact disc (CD) formats. Specifically, a handful of Twitter/X users have seen their treasured CDs split or shatter without any glaringly obvious cause. The root cause seems to be the degradation of the polycarbonate substrates of the CDs from either cleaning substances or some types of foam padding in storage cases off-gassing.
The two examples of shattered CDs embedded above might look pretty similar, but the failures may have been precipitated through different vectors. @japanretrogame’s split-down-the-middle CD was perhaps doomed due to too much care and maintenance. Reader notes suggest the user cleaned and polished this CD to keep it clean and shiny. This eventually caused chemical cracking of the polycarbonate substrate, it is thought [machine translations used].
