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Hardware March 2002 • Vol.8 Issue 3 Page(s) 11-12 in print issue |
Clear Playback 10 Ways To Clean, Repair & Take Care Of CDs & DVDs | ||
 Somewhere in the course of your computer experience, you may have heard that disc-based media are indestructible. This is not true. Although optical discs are more durable than magnetic media, your CDs and DVDs can become damaged. A fingernail scratch or hot day is all it takes to turn your discs into drink coasters and your data into undecipherable bits (smallest unit of data storage). The following tips will keep you on the road to productivity by preventing such an occurrence. 1. Don't touch. Discs are not particularly fragile, but they are susceptible to the oil and grime that gets left behind whenever your skin touches them. The oil and grime, which are visible in every finger or palm print you see on the disc's reflective surface, can wreak havoc with the drive's lasers and cause the disc to skip, stutter, or worse. To avoid such problems, you should hold a disc by gripping its outer edge or center hole, making sure you don't touch the play/record side. Handle the discs only when necessary, and even then, make sure your hands are clean. Whatever you do, never pick up your discs while eating greasy food (yes, that includes pizza). 2. Keep away from moisture and direct sunlight. Dealing with an occasional fingerprint is one thing; protecting your discs from the elements of nature is quite another. Excessive moisture or humidity can lead to water condensation on the disc, which in turn can damage the disc drive's internal components. Similarly, placing a disc in direct sunlight (near an office window, for instance, or on the dashboard of a car) increases the likelihood of damage due to disc warping. Your best bet is to keep your discs (and computer, for that matter) in a cool, dry place. Extreme cold should not damage a disc, but you must warm the disc to room temperature before using it. 3. Put it in a case. Discs belong in a case. Other storage media come encased in a protective sheath (in the case of a diskette or Zip disk) or contained unit (in the case of a hard drive), but the play/record surface of a disc is exposed at all times. Protect your discs by storing them in a plastic jewel case, a carrying case, or some other storage container designed for the purpose of protecting optical discs. Even the paper wrappers in which many retail applications are packaged are better than nothing. At any rate, do not leave your discs lying around on your desk or on top of your PC when they are not in use. For further protection, especially if you work in an uncontrolled environment, you should consider keeping your CDs and DVDs in a box. A box (or closet, cupboard, or CD carrying case) is less likely to be penetrated by dirty air particles, hot sunlight, and sudden humidity changes that can damage your discs. Mobile computer users and workers who sit near large office windows will benefit most from this additional protective measure.
5. Give it a good cleaning. In the event that your discs become dirty (and any disc you use regularly will fit into this category), you need to know how to clean it so it looks as good as new. You need a clean lint-free cloth, such as an old cotton T-shirt, you can moisten with a mild cleaning solution, rubbing alcohol, or glass cleaner. Alternatively, you can buy premoistened cleaning cloths for less than $10 per pack from your local office supplies retailer, such as Office Max or Circuit City. Clean the disc's play/record side by placing the cloth in the middle of the disc and wiping outward to the disc's edge. Let the disc dry completely before inserting it into the drive. For better cleaning results, do not use paper towels or tissues, and do not rub the cloth in circular motions on the disc surface. 6. Then clean a little more. Wiping the disc with a soft rag will cleanse the disc of fingerprints, smears, dust, and other surface contaminants. For deeper blemishes, including scratches that cause the disc to skip during playback, you need to bring in the elbow grease. Actually, you need to bring in the toothpaste. It's easy to spot scratches. Simply hold the cleaned disc at an angle under a bright light. The scratches will appear as thin lines on the play/record side. Place a dab of toothpaste on your moistened cloth and smear it on the disc surface. As before, you must wipe in straight lines from the middle of the disc to the outer edge. Next, clean the disc, insert it in the drive, and give it a test run. If the disc no longer skips, you have eliminated the problem. If the scratch still causes a skip during playback, remove the disc from the drive and repeat the cleaning process, wiping slightly harder than you did before. How does this solution work? The toothpaste acts as a mild abrasive to remove a thin layer of the surface, thereby minimizing the impact of the scratch. This is the same principle behind retail scratch removal products, such as Digital Innovations' SkipDoctor ($34.95; 888/762-7858, 847/676-4200; http://www.digitalinnovations.com).
To understand this strange phenomenon, think of the disc as a tiny mirror. A mirror is nothing but a piece of glass with a foil backing. It would take a powerful blow to damage the mirror's thick glass surface, but it would only take a minor rip in the foil backing to destroy the mirror's reflective qualities. Like the mirror, a disc's play/record side is quite thick and impervious to daily wear and tear. The back (or label) side, however, has only the thinnest of coverings and is susceptible to damage from the lamest sources. 8. Don't remove the labels. You could damage the disc's label side by attempting to remove a disc label. The removed labels are likely to leave behind a thick, sticky residue that interferes with the drive's ability to read data from the disc. Because there is no easy way to clean this residue from the disc, the damage caused by the attempted removal of a label (or masking tape or any other adhesive, for that matter) is most likely permanent. So, keep those labels on your discs once you've put them there. Better yet, use a removable label, such as Digital Innovations' WriteAway labels (ranging from $12.99 to $24.99, depending on quantity) or Avery Dennison's Removable Laser CD/DVD Labels ($27.32; 800/462-8379; http://www.avery.com), that you can remove at any time without the risk of leaving sticky residue behind. 9. Write softly. Some users choose to write their names on disc labels as a way of identifying the discs as their personal property. This is a good idea if you will be sharing discs, such as in an office or dorm room. Just make sure you use a felt-tip pen when making your mark. Writing on the label with a ballpoint pen, pencil, or some other sharp writing utensil could damage the disc's label side and lead to data loss. 10. Never put a damaged disc in your disc drive. The internal components of a disc drive are quite fragile. If a speck of dust, barely visible to the human eye, is enough to throw a drive's optical laser temporarily out of whack, just imagine what a fracture line or gob of glue (or some other manifestation of major disc damage) can do. Discs that are damaged in a significant way (anything more than a surface scratch) should be discarded immediately. The only exception to this rule is when a disc contains important and irreplaceable data. In these instances, you should contact a data recovery service to find out whether the service thinks its technicians can save your data. Unfortunately, the odds of recovering important or irreplaceable data from a physically damaged disc are slim. Nevertheless, it couldn't hurt to contact a data recovery service before giving up on the disc completely. DriveSavers (800/440-1904, 415/382-2000; http://www.drivesavers.com), Ontrack Data International (800/872-2599, 952/937-5161; http://www.ontrack.com), and Disktek (888/839-0949, 905/938-0393; http://www.disktek.com) are a few of the larger data recovery services around.  Keep It Crystal Clear. All of these disc-related performance tips really boil down to one thing: treat your optical storage media well. Despite the high cost of software, particularly with operating systems and office suites, many users treat their CDs and DVDs no better than cheap, plastic coasters. Respect your discs and protect them as you would protect your best crystal or china. Your productivity depends on it.  by Jeff Dodd |
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