A few weeks ago, I found an old spindle of burned CDs and DVDs tucked into a drawer, each one labeled in faded Sharpie: “Family Photos,” “College Backup,” and “Vacation,” and other little time capsules from an era when putting files on a disc was the equivalent of storing files in the cloud. The first five I tried were not encouraging. Two read normally. Three mounted, struggled, clicked around for a while, and then gave me file errors. That spindle was supposed to be my insurance policy against losing those photos. Unfortunately, the policy had been expiring the whole time it sat in that drawer, and I never received a renewal notice. Related Why CDs Are Still Worth Buying in 2026 (Yes, Seriously) Want your music to sound better? Dust off that CD collection. A brief history of premature archiving We were sold permanence, not a promise Between the late 1990s and the early 2010s, CD and DVD burners went from expensive extras to features you expected to find in almost any half-decent computer. Blank …