opinions on CD/DVD drive cleaning gadgets?

You have to be in a brutally dusty environment before one is needed...

I have only had to do it once after an office ceiling collapsed. The CD/DVD players were at least recoverable but the inkjet printers were toast as the fine plaster powder gummed up their jets forever.

Not sure how well the cleaner I have works in a slot mechanism - I would worry about losing bits of it inside the works.

I've got one which has a small brush (literally) sticking out of a CD. You play it and select track 4 when prompted which supposedly causes the head to track across the brush. Works in all types of drive.

How well it works, and whether it makes much difference, is another matter. I've never come cross a drive which would not play until I cleaned it.

Paul DS.

Rarely needed IME. Not sure they really achieve much.

Dust contamination is probably worst in PCs etc which have active cooling sucking dust through every hole in the case!

So with those it is possibly worth a try, but then again new PC DVD re-writers can be had for nut much more than a tenner these days.

The one I have has a little brush on the surface of it. You need to get the player to play the track under the brush for a bit.

If its having difficulties reading discs etc, then it is far more likely to be the focus mechanism or tracking than just dust.

You will probably find a quick blast with an air duster does as much as a cleaning disc would.

Horrible things, more likely to do harm than good IMHO. If a drive gets to the point where it needs a clean, dismantling the drive (but to a point that doesn't involve completely screwing the mechanism up, obviously ;) and cleaning the necessary bits manually is probably the best approach.

I've actually had success with those brushified cleaning disks. On other drives, ones where the spigot lifts and presses the disk against a spring loaded boss as the drawer closes - If you insert the disks using your lil pinky in the hole, over time various crap/sweat/general garbage can cause a build-up on the spigot surface (and disk), presumably the disk then spins vertically out of true. A good clean of the contact surface with IPA has worked for me (if you can access the damn thing).

This one (hi-fi component) is probably about 12 years old & has recently been getting cranky, playing some but not all CDs (I've tested them in a computer drive). I figure it's worth a shot if it can't do any harm.

I hadn't thought of cleaning the spigot --- interesting suggestion!

In my experience the best way to clean a CD laser is to open the unit up, and gently wipe over the lens with a cotton bud which has first been sprayed with isopropyl alcohol. CD cleaning disks will only help with loose dust on the lens. Anything more stuck will need the method above. Over time the laser output reduces, and eventually the only fix is to replace the laser.

I remember a very early CD (not DVD) writer that came with a dire warning from the manufacturer NOT to use a cleaning disk, as it would damage the laser. I've no idea whether that applies to modern drives.

Chris

I'm sure I've been warned in the past that (some?) cotton buds have a bit of wax or similar binder to hold them bud shaped and that this can contaminate heads or optics when used for cleaning. Perhaps worth checking that they say wax free or rolling your own with cotton wool on a stick as I do.

I would suspect the laser and/or the mechanics making it difficult to follow the track.

Have you tried cleaning the discs that it won't play?

MBQ

Yes. The discs work fine in other devices.