# CD-R

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/cd-r/

6 people recommended CD-R in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 12 months, in 5 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Owners report good CD-Rs, like Kodak Gold and Verbatim, still readable after 30 years on nearly any computer; cheap ones can fail within 10 years.

Summary written by Claude from 9 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Good discs last decades (4 comments in the sample): "data on even the worst CD-Rs being still readable after 30 years ( i can personaly attest to that" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47018375)) "my memorex and verbatim still work fine after 30 years of mistreatment!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48940242)) "I used Kodak Golds, which have lived up to their hype." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48958327))
- Cheap, easy physical backups (2 comments in the sample): "CD-R's, which were common and made physical backups very cheap" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46482359)) "You'd use CD-R of course." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49342521))

## What people warn about

- Some discs fail within years (1 comment in the sample): "mine are failing after ~20 years" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46644146))

## What people recommend instead

- [M-DISC](https://hackerapproved.com/p/m-disc/): 24 recommend, 6 mixed, 23 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "CD-R", https://hackerapproved.com/p/cd-r/ (6 recommend, 1 mixed, 2 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 3 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.