M DISC BD-R 50GB DL 8X with Branded Surface - 25pk Spindle

I bought Verbatim M-disc for the first time to back up my extracted movie Blu-ray ISO. I was worried that it would fail when burning the disc after reading reviews online, but with the right software and a good burner, this disc is very reliable. I bought 25 spindles of 25GB SL discs, and 25 out of 25 discs were burned normally without any errors! Wow! The quality of Verbatim BD-R is undoubtedly good... but the price of M-disc Blu-ray seems a bit too expensive IMO. In the old days of DVD, organic dyes were used, so M-Disc had the advantage of using inorganic dyes to enhance the durability of preservation, but most Blu-ray discs, except for LTH discs, are manufactured using the HTL method that uses inorganic dyes same as M-Disc. Unlike DVD, the M-Disc BD-R discs doesn't require any specific burner and fully compatible with normal bluray recorder. Base on these facts, I don't think the difference between the M-Disc bluray and "normal" HTL bluray discs is big in terms of durability. The price of 25 M-Discs BD 25GB is $65. On the other hand, the price of 25 25GB HTL "Inorganic Dye" BDs manufactured by the same company is $23, while Amazon Japan sells 50 discs for the same price! If there is not much difference between M-Disc and regular HTL, there is no reason for Verbatim to maintain the production line for this disc after Millineta, the creator of this format, went bankrupt, but even considering that, I think the price difference between the two is too much. Of course, I think the quality of the Verbatim discs themselves has been proven this time, so I plan to buy Verbatim Blu-rays again next time (in fact, as of the time of writing this review, the Verbatim discs I ordered from Amazon Japan are already on their way!) Maybe in a few years, I will write a second review of M-Disc and advise you not to repeat the same "mistake" I made just now. Who knows? Only time will tell. For those who want detailed information... The software I used to burn my disc is ImgBurn and I burnt all my discs with 4x speed. All the discs I burnt are verified after the writing is finished. The disc burner I used is LG WH16NS40 with external enclosure (Vantec NST-536S3-BK) I also attach photos of the discs before and after recording.

I've always been concerned about exactly HOW LONG data could be stored over the years. Mag tape definitely isn't it, nor is data stored on SSD drives, etc., nor 'paper'....really! Come on! Not likely. Well, if you maintain a CD drive that can record & playback these 100Gb disks then THIS might just be what you are searching for. I finally did get one that seems to work well, after an earlier failure, and am in the process of testing it out. It seems to work well, with only a couple of minor hesitations during playback, but I think that's not an error, just the fact that it's mechanical and probably subject to such things occasionally with very large files-- I'm continuing testing and proving to myself how reliable it will be. The lifetime prospect (storage) for this type of media is way better than what I used before, despite the slower record time and greater cost. Something to work out later, I suppose. OK -- this 'later', and I got some blank BDXL Verbatim disks.....I experimented on the 1st one and was VERY happy with the quality, however the 'but' part of the testing is a 2-parter......Number 1 is the COST per disk is high, and since I'm sure you can't re-record over, you better not waste it.....the 2nd one is a killer, and it was SO slow recording you almost have to start the copy when you go to bed, because by the time it's done (91 Giga bytes writable space) it'll be next morning anyway. Probably minimum of 5-7 hours per disk. However, IF it works out to be the 'longest' storage capability, then so be it. It STILL works good.

The best long-term archival quality storage media on the market (as far as I currently know). I've been happily backing up my precious files to these things for years. Warning: M_DISC compatible Blu-ray drives are required for burning data to those discs.

I purchased this to burn 89GB of data files (mostly docs, xls, ppts, pictures, Downloaded programs, and lots of GPS data/image files/maps, and a few home movies--collected since the 80s). . References: . This LG Burner 3.0 SuperMulti LG Electronics 14X USB 3.0 Super-Multi External Blu-ray Disc Rewriter BE14NU40 (DVD+/-RW with M-DISC Support) $109.00 . 1 Verbatim M-Disk 100GB Verbatim M Disc BDXL 100 GB 4X 1 Pack Jewel Case 98912 $29.01 . 1 Nero 2016 Classic Download Nero 2016 Classic [Download] - Currently $99.99. I Paid $29.99. . FYI, My Computer: Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini-Tower H505s Desktop, AMD E2-1800 APU 1.70 GHz with Radeon HD Graphics, 4GB RAM, plus a 32GB ReadyBoostCache on a SDHC Memory Card inserted into one of the SD Reader Slots (I just leave it there) . I initially bought a LG Electronics 8X USB 2.0 with M-Disk $27.25 (Super Multi Ultra Slim Portable DVD+/-RW External Drive with M-DISC Support GP65NW60). This burner was NOT recognized by either of my 2 computers as BDLX - M-Disk (3TL) compatible. None of my burning software (Nero, Power2Go, LenovoBurn, and 2 freeware programs) would recognize this as M-Disk compatible either. This was useless for Blu Ray, with my computers. . So, I purchased the 2016 NERO Classic and this LG 14X USB3.0 burner. I Really wanted to make an Archival backup (you can get info on why M-Disks are so valuable for almost permanent/lifetime Data storage on the M-Disk website). . This burner was immediately recognized by my computer as M-Disk BDXL compatible. I put in the Verbatim 100GB BDLX Disk and stepped through the proper process to span unbroken files (See Nero Burning for M-Disks on the M-Disk website for the correct settings. Amazon will not allow a link, but it's under Step-by-Step Instructions - a downloadable PDF). . It ran flawlessly. It verified the data flawlessly. It burned 89GB of mixed data and verified it in 58 minutes. I was utterly impressed. I viewed some of the more complex data files directly from the finished disk and they were perfect. . This combination worked better than I had hoped for (Nero Classic + this Blu Ray M-Disk burner) and was worth every penny. Notes: I tried some of the freeware for burning, but they do NOT have the Ultra buffer (in Nero's program) that seemed to make this process run flawlessly. I was pleased I purchased the Nero Software for this task.

One of the discs was defective, and you could see there was a mess up with the data layer. I would’ve taken a photo, but I threw it away. The second disc I tried worked with my drive. Time will tell how long the disc will remain usable.

Problem free, archival disk. Preserve your files.

I've purchased a few batches of M Discs over the years. There is something blatantly different about the latest stack I bought December 2023 and it turns out I'm not alone. Verbatim is not being transparent about this, but as some reviewers suggested (and discussed on forums with 1,000s of upvotes), the company is now smacking the M Disc logo on regular blu-rays and selling them. While others have done a deep dive on their manufacturing, or visible differences between old and new M Discs (color, label, etc), I found out with another method: destruction! In years past I've recorded dozens of M Discs, but had to destroy one or two. Maybe certain files were incomplete or missing or outdated, and I no longer wanted that M Disc to be my archival copy despite thinking it at the time. Instead of just chucking it, I would destroy the M Disc for security reasons, and replace it. Those didn't break easily. They're tougher to snap or pass through a household shredder. They were stubborn to break, or at least more stubborn than a standard blu-ray. Not anymore. Recently I had to replace a newer M Disc for whatever reason, and it snapped like butter. Passed through the shredder like a credit card. That alone makes it obvious Verbatim has backed down on quality, if not the efficiency, of M Disc and its stated purpose. For further consideration, see my images for the visual differences that could be clue enough (left is an older M Disc, right is recent).

These are the highest standard Blu-Ray blanks and they are priced this high for very good reason. If you require data backup that is absolutely critical then this is the right choice. These are not for your casual everyday backups, this is for long term secure archiving so choose wisely when it comes to what you'll be using these for.