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| rjisinspired |
| Posted: Dec 8 2011, 06:39 PM |
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Coming from analog times it was always important to use head cleaners. In the digital age I never really gave it much thought.
What are some good lens cleaners for a computer DVD drive? The ones I'm seeing online look like their for regular players, does it matter? One of them, a Maxell brand, according to a user, is not recommended for computer drives at all yet that's one of the results I received when looking for a cleaner?
Best one appears to be a cleaner made by Allsop, some carbon something brush cleaner.
Update: I'm also seeing users who had stated that when inserting some of these cleaner disks into their drives that they get "no disk" messages or that the drive doesn't recognize them? That can't be good? |
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| dloneranger |
| Posted: Dec 8 2011, 07:47 PM |
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I'd just take the drive apart and clean the head like a camera lens
(I've never had to clean a drive head ever though - the air disturbance caused by the discs has always kept mine clean)
The difference between 'ordinary' cd cleaners and pc ones is probably due to the speed the drives spin at, something designed to clean a low speed cd drive might damage a lens when it's spinning so much faster in a pc drive
Otoh, It's not like dvd burners actually cost very much
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| evropej |
| Posted: Dec 8 2011, 09:04 PM |
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My DVD player had a hard time reading DVD's and after I bought a 10 dollar CD cleaning kit, everything is back to normal now.
Dont go crazy on this, just get something which has a brush on it and its cost effective.
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| rjisinspired |
| Posted: Dec 8 2011, 09:27 PM |
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Thanks guys.
Now off to get some DVD blanks. Amazon has Philips dual layered disks, spindle of 50 for 30.00 yet now that I am reading about it DVD blanks, I am seeing that Verbatims would be the way to go but you get less of them and they are more in price. I have used both and they seem to be all right. One site always goes on about using Verbatims and nothing else. Beats me.
These dual layered disks are hard to find locally. Staples have them but they are very pricey. |
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| evropej |
| Posted: Dec 8 2011, 10:14 PM |
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As much as I hate sony, I am using the DVDR's. I get them online, 100 for 23 bucks delivered.
http://www.meritline.com/sony-16x-dvd-r-si...---p-33475.aspx
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| rjisinspired |
| Posted: Dec 8 2011, 10:25 PM |
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Thanks evropej, bookmarked.
I need to find an alternative routine. I'm always holding on to the AVI work files, intermediates, and this makes some burning projects need 8.5 disks. I guess I'm a digital hoarder to a degree.
I had use Lagarith but then went to Xvid for work files but this comes with it's own issues, some times. Going back to using Lagarith encoded work files and then just delete the intermediates afterward. |
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| freedomdwarf |
| Posted: Dec 10 2011, 11:57 AM |
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Over here in the UK the dual-layer discs are still pretty expensive so I stick to standard 4.7GB DVD's when I burn stuff.
A simple and effective tool to use is DVD Shrink which will shrink any resulting video files or ISO's so they just fit onto a single-sided standard DVD. I frequently render files with Nero 11 that produce vob files in excess of 20GB and shrink them onto a normal 4.7GB disc without losing hardly any noticable quality. As long as the resulting DVD is less than about 4 hours in duration it's virtually unnoticable even when I watch them on a 42" TV.
Best thing is - DVD Shrink is FREE!! It's one of the most-used tools that I have alongside VD and Nero and I couldn't live without it these days.
With regard to head cleaners, I use a simple and very cheap DVD cleaner disc with brushes about once every 2-3 years and I only do that because I use my drive an awful lot. I don't use the fluid because that often mucks up the drive/laser for a few hours until it's all dried out and dissipated. I buy mine from the Pound Store (dollar shop to you in USA) so it's cheap and almost throw-away.
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| rjisinspired |
| Posted: Dec 11 2011, 12:45 AM |
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Thanks freedomdwarf. I think I used DVDShrink a long time ago, looks familiar.
What brand and type of cleaner you use? I am noticing that some are not for computer DVD drives which confuses me when reading about a few of them, one of them a Maxell brand. I thought a DVD drive was a DVD drive?
I'll stay away from the liquid stuff. Is it possible for the liquid stuff to get into the drive itself? |
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| dloneranger |
| Posted: Dec 11 2011, 01:09 AM |
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The difference is the speed the disks rotate at
A normal music cd player for instance rotates the disk at about 300rpm
A 52x pc cd drive rotates can rotate up to about 10,000rpm
So what might be a gentle clean in the music drive, could turn into a sand-blasting in the pc drive
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| rjisinspired |
| Posted: Dec 11 2011, 06:07 AM |
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I knew of the music CD player drives being slower, 1.27 meters per second I think, but didn't know the speed differences, rpm-wise.
10,000 rpms, damn that's fast! Bet you could tack on some sandpaper onto the spindle and use that to smooth out some wood cabinets. Ideas at work.  Explains why the disks come out like warm flapjacks after they're finished.
Be better just to buy a new DVD drive and skip the cleaners altogether.
My DVD drive can do 48x CDs and, I believe, 16X for DVDs but generally I go at 4x or 8x, max.
What would be the meters or feet per second from a 10K rotational speed?
10K/300 = 33.3
33.3 X 1.27 = 42.3 meters
42.3 X 3.2808399 = 138.77952777 or 139 feet, rounded?
Well, 138.7500002109 if using 33.3 X 3.2808399 --- with 1.27 meters X 3.2808399 = 4.166666673 feet.
Sound right or did I just screw the math all up on this?
If it is then in 38.05 seconds you would reach a mile of track! |
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| rjisinspired |
| Posted: Dec 11 2011, 06:34 AM |
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Track lengths: http://www.lightbyte.com/SpiralLength.htm
(CD Track Length = 3.7414 Miles)
Pit/Land Lengths are 3..11 clock cycles or (0.8-3.0 ums) with an average length of 2 um.
Modulated marks on a CD = 6,002,536 mm / 2.0um = 3,001,268,000
(DVD-5 Track Length = 7.8434 Miles)
Pits and Lands on a DVD are 3…11 clock cycles (14T for sync) or 0.4 – 1.84 ums. Average Length is approx ~ 0.72um
Modulated marks on a DVD-5 = 12,583,585 mm / 0.72 um = 17, 477,201,390
DVD-9/10 Track Length = 15.6868 Miles
Pits and Lands on a DVD-9/10 are ~ 0.44 – 2.0 um. Average Length ~ 0.78
Modulated marks on a DVD-9/10 = 25, 167,170 mm / 0.78 um = 32,265,602,560
DVD-18 Track Length = 31.3736 Miles
Modulated marks on a DVD-18 = 50,334,340 mm/ 0.78um = 64,531,205,130
Amazing is all I can say. |
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| dloneranger |
| Posted: Dec 11 2011, 12:42 PM |
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| QUOTE | | 10,000 rpms, damn that's fast! |
Yup, it makes me cringe when I think about the internals of my last motorbike, the redline was about 21,000rpm
Those mile lengths of the spirals make my mind boggle
At a previous job I used to deal with rolls of paper - kind of like a toilet roll on it's side, and about chest high like that. They were about 5Km long, and I thought that was crazy long.
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| freedomdwarf |
| Posted: Dec 11 2011, 01:19 PM |
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You asked which brand??
Any, as long as it says DVD/CD cleaner on it and it's cheap enough to throw away. lol.
The most I've ever paid for a cleaning disc is £1.99 (about $3) but I usually get them for 99p (around $1.50). They are usually some unpronouncable Taiwanese make but who cares what it is if I'm going to throw it away afterwards?
Most of them nowadays are CD's with brushes and either some verbal instructions on them or some nice classical music to listen to while it cleans.
DVD's are certainly loads faster than CD's but what you're missing here is that when you put in an audio CD it is playing at CD speed, not DVD speed!! So in that event you are not risking a CD cleaner spinning at super-high speeds like it would if it were a DVD.... so it's perfectly safe 
The fluid is supposed to help clean the laser heads of the muck but to be honest, given the initial spin-up speeds of modern drives, it's probably thrown the stuff everywhere before it gets to the 3rd or 4th rotation. It won't do any harm but all the while the fluid is... well fluid, the laser can't write correctly to any disk. In my experience, leaving the drive to thoroughly dry out for about an hour or so (depending on the temperature) before I attempt to burn anything. Or better still - don't use the fluid in the first place!
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| IanB |
 Posted: Dec 11 2011, 08:35 PM |
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| QUOTE (dloneranger @ Dec 11 2011, 12:09 PM) | The difference is the speed the disks rotate at
A normal music cd player for instance rotates the disk at about 300rpm
A 52x pc cd drive rotates can rotate up to about 10,000rpm
So what might be a gentle clean in the music drive, could turn into a sand-blasting in the pc drive |
See Mythbusters, Season 1, Episode 2 |
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| freedomdwarf |
| Posted: Dec 11 2011, 09:04 PM |
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Yes, it does happen - CD's and DVD's *can* explode inside a drive when it's spinning. I should know, it's happened to me and several friends but it's not that common otherwise we would never use them at all would we?!?
It's akin to the excuse that we shouldn't drive cars or ride bikes because there are accidents. What tosh!
The main reason this sort of thing happens is because something about the disc makes it unstable... a crack, a split, badly positioned brushes, an old disc that's very brittle, chipped disc.. etc. There are loads of reasons a disc becomes unstable and likely to shatter when you spin it up. The whole thing about drives and discs in general, right from the early days, is that they wouldn't pass consumer safety tests otherwise they would be withdrawn from the market altogether - and I'm not just talking about PC drives either.
99.99% of the time, it's pretty safe to use these things.
If you are going to be that paranoid about it then it's time to shut your machine off and put it away in case it shorts out and causes a fire in your home. lol.
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