What did you expect? I mean, it was in the lake, with moving water all around it, fish, plants, and lord knows what else brushing aginst it, and so forht. The perfect form of data preservation is probably punched tape, or, ROM (not EEPROM!) with the data on it. It would be cool to see a drive that read ROMS, or, if you put a "blank" one in would burn it for you. Of course that's only good for a few K, but for text, that should be sufficent. -----Original Message----- From: jpero(a)cgo.wave.ca <jpero(a)cgo.wave.ca> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Tuesday, January 06, 1998 8:15 PM Subject: Re: I don't believe this **** Actually, the sealer on that side of any cdrom label side is pretty easy to scratch, once that happens, the life is really shortened! The shiny layer is aluminum. I heard of someone who threw a favorite cd into lake in frustration, but few years later, found it again, it's ruined. Jason D.