Clean CD players/burners?

[Ed H]

Are CD players/ burners supposed to be cleaned? How? I've been having
trouble with copying and restoring from data CD's. I frequently get errors
and I have tried different copying/burning scenarios. Just yesterday I was
trying to restore an image to a partition, I've installed this CD before
with no problem but during installation I received an error message 'file
can not be read.' I do not see any obvious damage to the CD, I've lost faith
in optical media as a back up. All Suggestions will be welcome, thank you.

 

[Guest]

A Compact Disc player uses a laser, we all know that, however what many
forget is that the PC is in a very dirty environment in most cases: just open
up any PC and look how much dirt and dust is trapped [sucked in by the
cooling fans] inside.

Thus the basic answer is, YES. These cleaning devices are available in most
PC shops or component suppliers, perhaps even on Amazon dot com.

Also bear in mind, PC CD reader / Writer is a very low cost device: we the
buyers have made it that way. SO there are a lot of cost cutting measures
which result in short product life. Many of my clients have had to replace
Burners within the first 18 months of their life. This is not specific to
any one brand.

 

[Sandman]

Best advice I have gleaned from reading on the Web sez, DO NOT use those
'optical disc cleaner CDs' that claim to wipe the lens with a tiny brush.. I
personally use the air duster cannisters to squirt plain old air into the
drive, being careful not to shove the nozzle too far into the drive. This
should remove most dust.. If your burner is older than say several years old
and you have not done this, it may be beyond that kind of cleaning.
The very worst thing for optical drives (and everything else inside your
case) is cigaret smoke (if you smoke) as this forms heavy residue on
everything over time, that can't be removed by blowing a jet of air inside
the caase or the drives. It also could be a bad disc.

 

[V Green]

Are CD players/ burners supposed to be cleaned? How? I've been having
trouble with copying and restoring from data CD's. I frequently get errors
and I have tried different copying/burning scenarios. Just yesterday I was
trying to restore an image to a partition, I've installed this CD before
with no problem but during installation I received an error message 'file
can not be read.' I do not see any obvious damage to the CD, I've lost faith
in optical media as a back up. All Suggestions will be welcome, thank you.

The only real way to clean an drive is to take it out
of your PC and takethe top cover off, not for the faint of heart.

The "stick it in the drive and run it" type cleaners
just rearrange the crap inside the drive, they DON'T
get it out. The drive WILL usually work for a time
after you use one of these, but they're just a band-aid.

A small torx driver or Phillips jewelers screwdriver
is usually necessary. If you need to remove circuit
boards to get to the drive mechanics, be very careful
with the ribbon style connectors and take digital pictures
as you go so you can get it all back together.

 

[Sandman]

Why would anyone hazard taking a dvd/cd burner apart to clean it?

 

[Roland Benipayo]

-----Original Message-----
Are CD players/ burners supposed to be cleaned? How? I've been having
trouble with copying and restoring from data CD's. I frequently get errors
and I have tried different copying/burning scenarios. Just yesterday I was
trying to restore an image to a partition, I've installed this CD before
with no problem but during installation I received an error message 'file
can not be read.' I do not see any obvious damage to the CD, I've lost faith
in optical media as a back up. All Suggestions will be welcome, thank you.
--
Ed H
Dell Dimension 4550, WinXP Professional SP2
60 Gig. HD, 512 DDR, Pentium IV 2.40 GHz.



.

 

[V Green]

Why would anyone hazard taking a dvd/cd burner apart to clean it?

Ummm...to get it working properly again?

I've done it many times, with many drives. All you really
need to do is remove the metal cover and perhaps a circuit
board or two...not a big deal if you're familiar with these
things.

I have pets, and my home environment here in
dusty ol' Phoenix, is, well, dusty. It's a real problem
for hardware-optical drives and inkjet printers suffer
greatly. Just a fact of life.

 

[Wislu Plethora]

-----Original Message-----

Also bear in mind, PC CD reader / Writer is a very low cost device: we the
buyers have made it that way. SO there are a lot of cost cutting measures
which result in short product life. Many of my clients have had to replace
Burners within the first 18 months of their life. This is not specific to
any one brand.

Please explain your contention that "we the buyers" are
responsible for what you contend are poor-quality optical
drives. While you're at it, list some of the "cost
cutting measures" you refer to, with specific examples.
Also please explain how it is that any user might have
to replace an optical drive "within the first 18 months of
their life." I was in my forties before I had to replace
one.