How to Extend the Life of Your CDs and DVDs

Have you ever noticed those horrible scratches that seem to mysteriously appear on your CDs and DVDs, even though you take the necessary precautions to prevent them? Those scratches are called "particle abrasions" and are caused by tiny particles of dust and dirt that accumulate on your drive trays. Over time these particles can cut deep scratches into the surfaces of compact disks and turn your precious CDs and DVDs into light reflecting table coasters. Tea anyone?

So how does this happen? During normal operation, a little motor inside of your ROM drives lift your CDs and DVDs off of the drive trays and spins them at a rate of between 200 and 500 RPM. This is done to allow the laser to read and write data to and from the disks. Although the disks have very little contact with the tray during this phase of operation, they can in fact touch the tray while they're still spinning. This happens during spin-up as the disks are lifted from the tray and during spin-down as they are placed back onto the tray. CD/DVD ROM trays are made from materials that are designed not to scratch your compact disks, but that thin layer of dirt and dust between the two will turn your Fall Out Boy CD into a variable grinding wheel.

But don't worry; this can be prevented thanks to the help of the almighty cotton swab. Simply moisten a cotton swab with a little distilled water and wipe down the drive tray thoroughly. Use a fresh swab for each pass and make sure that you to get into those crevices that separate the full size disk tray from the mini-disk tray. Continue cleaning until the swabs come back clean and then use a few dry swabs to finish it all up. Do this with all of your CD and DVD ROM drives, including the ones in your computers, gaming consoles and home entertainment systems. You can also clean your CD and DVD storage cases using this method. Media storage sleeves can be cleaned with a lint free cloth dampened with distilled water.