CD Scratches Problem

[rodan]

Can using a compact disc that has surface scratches, potentially damage a cd rom or cdrw drive? If so, is it hard on the laser? I bought a cdrom drive, that had a sticker with a warning that putting a scratched cd in the drive, could damage the drive.

 

[Willoughbyva]

I've never heard of that before. Do you have a cdrw? Maybe you could make backups of all your cd's and use them. I have a couple cds that won't work right normally, but I was able to make a backup and the backup works correctly.


Will

 

[rodan]

I've never heard of it before,either, but, I did buy a cdrom drive, fairly recent, with a clear sticker, with the "warning" imprinted on it, taped right over the drive door, so it's plainly visible to the user. And, it specifically states that putting a scratched cd in the drive, could cause damage to it. I'm guessing the manufacturer is being a bit overcautious to protect themselves.

 

[gsaldivar]

Sometimes when I put a really scratched-up CD into my computer, it can cause an "endless" spinup-spindown sequence, while the drive repeatedly attempts to try and retry reading bad sectors.

With newer drives getting faster, the time to execute one spin-up and spin-down sequence has been getting shorter due to new motors with higher torque. However, shorter spin-up times put more wear and tear on the motor, and on the newest CDROM drives i've noticed that CD's can get really hot after just a few minutes of use.

I'm guessing that the manufacturers are concerned with the amount of wear and tear that can be put on the drive motor due to excessive spinup/spindowns on scratched disks, left operating in a drive over a long period of time.