Re: CD writer wear out?

[This message has also been posted to linux.debian.user.]
In article <6zWIA-7r5-27@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Manon Metten wrote:
Art Edwards wrote:
I have had several CD burners die. They read just fine, but they stop
writing after a very finite number (say tens) of CD's.r

My cd writer of white label died after just two years of heavy use. At
last it still was able to read but made a lot of errors during write.

I have a new cd writer fitted now along with a cd/dvd writer, both of
label LG (it's hard to find another one here nowadays). Both seem to
work fine for the moment.

I make a lot of Knoppix disks because the Green Party here
gives them away. I get CD drives used or salvage or surplus,
all kinds and ages. Over time I collected nine drives that
stopped working: some wrote bad disks, others got read errors.
Took the cases off and cleaned the lenses carefully with
aqueous isopropyl "rubbing" alcohol on cotton swabs.
Eight of the nine work perfectly now. Try it.
The key is to remove the extra alcohol before it dries and
leaves a residue. Use a wet swab and then a dry one.

Note, even a perfectly good brand new CD-RW drive will write
bad CDs if you burn at full speed. The maximum writing speed
on modern CD blanks is very optimistic. Try burning at half
the automatically detected speed, or 16x, whichever is slower.
You will get a much higher yield. Your disks will be readable
in marginal drives that can not read disks burned at full speed.

Also, don't waste your time with CD-RW media. I have tried
several brands and none erases well. Second burn yield is
under 50%. Third burn is near zero.


Cameron



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