:(, my DVD drive is leaving swirl marks on my discs...

[Mday]

it's leaving concentric circles... appears to be light scratches, gotta get a polisher... so far 2 DVDs, and on CD-ROM...

if I can't fix the error, time for a new drive...

so how are the newest freaky fast drives?

 

[JPT]

That could be a dirty laser lens. You could either buy one of those lens cleaners (basically a cd with a little brush on it), or you could rip the drive apart and clean it manually (and there goes any warranty left...).
As for new drives, I just received a Toshiba 12x to replace my Pioneer 10x. It may sound geeky, but I did it because I didn't like the noise the drive did (pissed me off during a silent scene to hear the drive taking off!). Anyway, the new drive is much quieter and very fast. (and I got it under $100 from buy.com with coupons...)

 

[Mark R]

A dirty laser lens? The lens doesn't ever come closer than about 2 mm from the disc surface - there isn't enough travel in the lens mechanism for it to ever touch the disc.

The only way I can see that it could be scratching it, is if it fails to spin down the disc before dropping it onto the tray for ejection.

 

[JPT]

I am pretty sure the lens can get much closer than that to the surface. I remember a similar problem with a car cd player my brother had. I believe it was aggravated with vibrations of the cd. But your hypothesys sounds fair...

 

[Gunbuster]

It's the lens, I have seen this 2 times in Hitachi DVD drives.

It may be a design flaw that lets the lens get so far outa wack that it can hit the disc

Both times I have seen it the scratch zone is about mid disc

 

[Mday]

if the lense scratches the disc, that means the lense also gets scratched, which means, i should not be able to do jack... lasers are good, but it's seems so archaic

it's a Creative 6x drive, of course we all know it's made by panasonic.

i have to get a ROM lense cleaner (i seem to have lost my old one) and a polisher now... AND A NEW DRIVE... oh well, more parts for me continuing project (CD-ROM server)... which I should have done in a few years, with the $$$ I have left...

 

[MWink]

Mday:NO NO NO!!!
Creative no longer uses Panasonic drives. I had the Creative 6X DVD and I am 99% sure it is made by Hitachi. Panasonic makes the best CD/DVD drives. If you inslut Panasonic, I will have to hurt you. The last Creative drive that was made By Panasonic was the 2X DVD.

 

[Mday]

i am pretty sure my drive is made by panasonic. I did not make fun of panasonic, well, i meant nothing by it, actually I was kinda ripping creative labs.

anyway, i might have discovered the problem. there was a spongy foam piece with adhesive on one side which I think was used to hold a strip of cabling (plastic encased conductors, the orangish thing instead of actual "wires&quot down. the thing was popping up, at one corner...

of course, now I have 2 DVD-ROM drives man, i could've used that extra hundred bucks for something... too late to return it now.

anyway, i hope this drive is okay, removed the foam thing, because my new drive is region locked, afreey 8x.

 

[MWink]

What makes you pretty sure that it is a Panasonic? What color is the LED? Green or orange? What size and color is the eject button? Big and gray or little and white like the faceplate? Is there a label on the top, bottom, or both? If both, is the one on the bottom only a laser warning? Those are the only ways I can think of to determine if it is Panasonic or Hitachi. Give me the answers and I will tell you for sure which it is.