Confused about Ritek

Hi all,

I am sure this question has been asked before, but which Factory of CDR makers is the best? I have some stuff stored, that I would really like to keep for a long time. I am not one of those people who throw their CDs around. All of my important CDR's are in cases or sleeves. But I have heard of certain manufacturers whose CDRs loose their chemical formula, etc., and the CDR becomes partially/fully unreadable. Now, the one factory that I know is suppose to be very good is Taiyo Yuden Company Limited. But after that, I am a little confused. A while back, I ran into a site dedicated to CD Media, which is http://www.cdmediaworld.com and they actually did a CDR quality test, which is here http://www.cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/cd_quality.shtml

Now it looks as though this test is a little out of date, but Taiyo Yuden is considered good by them as well. But, the confusion for me begins at Ritek. Basically, on this site, ALL of Ritek's CDRs were considered VERY BAD, and they all failed the aging test. However, reading on some other places/forums, I have seen people say that Ritek along with Taiyo Yuden are the BEST. This is very confusing to see one where it says WORST and the other say BEST. If anyone can clear this up, I would appreciate it.

Also, if anyone could look thru the following list, and rate what they think of these Manufacturers, it would help me greatly.

1) Taiyo Yuden (I have heard VERY GOOD)
2) Kodak (I have heard VERY GOOD, but they have stopped producing)
3) Ricoh (I have heard VERY GOOD)
4) CMC Magnetics (I have heard BAD, OK, and GOOD)
5) TDK (I have heard OK - GOOD)
6) Mitsubishi (I have heard OK)
7) Ritek (I have heard VERY BAD and VERY GOOD)???
8) Fornet (I have heard VERY BAD)
9) Mitsui Toatsu Chemicals (I have heard VERY GOOD)
10) Princo (I have heard BAD)
11) FUJI Photo Film (I have heard OK)
12) Hitachi Maxell, Ltd. (I have heard OK)
13) Prodisc (I have heard BAD)
14) Multi Media Masters & Machinery SA (I have heard VERY BAD)
15) Seantram Technology (I have heard VERY BAD)
16) Gigastorage Corp. (I have heard VERY BAD)

I know this is a lot of companies, but I wanted to be very thorough. I have run accross EVERY single one of these companies at one point or another. And I want to know what everyone thinks of them, so that I can transfer some important information from one of these BAD manufacturers to a GOOD one. Thank You.

SuperG.

 

That's quite a list. Nice research.

This is of course from my own personal and limited experience with the various media. Everyone else's results may vary.

In no particular order:

Taiyo Yuden (VERY GOOD - I use this for storage)
Kodak (VERY GOOD - I use this for storage)
CMC Magnetics (GOOD)
TDK (GOOD)
Mitsubishi (VERY GOOD)
Ritek (VERY GOOD - I use this for storage)
Fornet International (OKAY)
RICOH (GOOD)
Princo (BAD)
Prodisc (BAD)
Plasmon (BAD)

Burners used:
HP 7200i [2/2/6]
TDK 24/10/40B
LiteON 52/24/52

 

Prodisc seem to work fine for me.

 

Didn't read our sticky thread? http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/12824

That test is 4 years old, which in this industry equals eternity. Ritek in 1-4x generations was very very bad, but ever since 8x they have been just about flawless.

 

How would you guys rate the Sony's that has a ATIP that says Sony? Are these actually better or worst than Ritek?

 

cd-rw.org,

I have some Dysan 74min/650MB CDRs that are in jewel cases that don't list a speed that I got a few years ago but made by Ritek, are these actually the good ones or the bad ones?

 

1) Taiyo Yuden : VERY GOOD
2) Kodak : VERY GOOD
3) Ricoh : VERY GOOD
4) CMC Magnetics : Early cyanine discs VERY, VERY BAD, ranging to new 48x media which can be GOOD to VERY GOOD. Generally NOT RECOMMENDED though.
5) TDK : BAD in my experience. New 48x TDK made by MBI with TDK ATIP : VERY GOOD
6) Mitsubishi : GOOD to VERY GOOD
7) Ritek : mostly VERY GOOD these days
8) Fornet : haven't seen these in ages; last 16x media I used GOOD
9) Mitsui Toatsu Chemicals : VERY GOOD
10) Princo : BAD -- do not last long
11) FUJI Photo Film : mostly made by TY : VERY GOOD
12) Hitachi Maxell, Ltd. : BAD in general
13) Prodisc : GOOD to VERY GOOD in my experience
14) Multi Media Masters & Machinery SA : Could be anything; 4M NOT a manufacturer.
15) Seantram Technology : now bust, part of RITEK
16) Gigastorage Corp. : was VERY GOOD at 24x; now bust, part of RITEK

The Dysan media is probably BAD. It was usually the old gold/green Ritek. If it's silver/light blue, should be OK to GOOD.

 

Guys,

Information you provide (the lists) is very valuable, but this is perhaps not the optimal place for them.

Could you check this out and tell me if you think something needs updating: http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/12824

 

jase,

Thanks for the info. The Dysan has a coating but it seems to be silver/light blue and rated up to 12x according to the coating.