BenQ Blank CD Spindle, 700 MB

A blank CD holds about 700 MB — enough for an album of audio, a set of documents, or a software installer. Long after most laptops stopped including a drive, the disc survives for the things a USB stick is wrong for: a permanent write-once copy that cannot be quietly edited later, and a cheap handover that the recipient keeps.

A spindle is the bulk format — a stack of bare discs on a central post, without individual cases, which is how you buy them when you burn more than one at a time. Handle a disc by the edge and the centre hole, keep fingerprints off the shiny data side, and store the spindle out of direct light; a burned disc lasts for years in the dark and degrades far faster on a sunny shelf.

• 700 MB write-once CD-R
• Spindle of bare discs — bulk format, no cases
• For permanent copies and cheap handovers
• Handle by the edge; store out of direct light