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have you ever killed a disc drive?

narlus

narlus

Eastcoast Softcore
Staff member
Nov 7, 2001
24,658
65
behind the viewfinder
i was ripping a cdr yesterday and upon spin up it was making a horrible clattering noise. i took the cdr out of the drive and noticed two cracks radiating from the spindle hole. well that disc looked cooked, so i tried #2 which also had two cracks, but not as large.

i figured i'd try to rip that and let EAC work away, while i was doing other stuff. it was slow going, but EAC was able to start extracting the audio despite the cracks. all of a sudden the drive started to spin the disc very fast and then i had a loud (much louder than i'd imagine) crack/smashing noise.

the cdr disintegrated in the drive. the drawer mechanism was jammed, but i was able to fish enough bits of plastic and foil out of it so it was clear. i removed the drive, tried to access the interior but couldn't. i was able to shake all the bits out of the drive, and then used a vacuum to try to get the stray bits. plugged it back in the PC, and it was recognized by the PC but wouldn't acknowledge any disc i put in it. seems like something vital must have died in the big bang.

moral of the story - toss those discs w/ cracks.

:dead:
 
clancy98

clancy98

Monkey
Dec 6, 2004
758
0
christmas when I was 17 I got a new CDRW... Burning the first CD on it, christmas morning... I got up to go get a drink of juice, and just as I did, the CD finished and popped out the tray, right as I walked by my leg hit the tray and broke it off sending little pieces everywhere.
 
Darkreaper

Darkreaper

Monkey
Sep 26, 2004
313
0
Away in the head
Discs with cracks should never be used, they will break sooner or later - probably sooner. My friend was a gaming junkie, his Red Alert disc shattered in the drive after much prolonged use and b0rked his computer for a few days until he stripped it down and cleaned out the plastic shrapnel.

There's an interesting (if worrying) look at this phenomenon here
 
binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,149
1,250
NC
Ouch.

Of course the knowledge doesn't help you a lot now, but cracked discs are a bomb waiting to explode, and when they go, they often take the CD drive with you. More than likely, one or more of the exploded pieces bounced off the sensitive laser lens and broke it.

Sorry to hear your drive got toasted, but at least they're fairly cheap to replace!
 
narlus

narlus

Eastcoast Softcore
Staff member
Nov 7, 2001
24,658
65
behind the viewfinder
well i can't get the same drive i bought 7 months ago because it's already phased out! doh! but, i can get a plextor SATA DVD-writer for about the same price ($62 after rebate). only thing which made me hesitate a tad is that that will use up my last SATA slot on the MoBo (including the 3 existing hard drives). but, i shouldn't need to install another drive anytime soon, and i suppose i can always get an internal SATA controller if i need one, right?
 
clancy98

clancy98

Monkey
Dec 6, 2004
758
0
sata is chainable like SCSI isn't it? up to a hundred some devices... guess not. SATA's not that cool after all, but it is fast...
 
binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,149
1,250
NC
clancy98 said:
sata is chainable like SCSI isn't it? up to a hundred some devices... guess not. SATA's not that cool after all, but it is fast...
Click to expand...
The downside is only that manufacturers aren't putting 5-10 SATA slots on their motherboards is all. The controllers are small, there's no reason to be stuck with 4 of 'em.

*cough* narlus, if you remember, I did suggest you go with one huge storage drive vs. 2 smaller ones... ;) :D

Why bother with a SATA burner? Just get an IDE burner, there are deals at newegg almost daily.
 
narlus

narlus

Eastcoast Softcore
Staff member
Nov 7, 2001
24,658
65
behind the viewfinder
binary visions said:
*cough* narlus, if you remember, I did suggest you go with one huge storage drive vs. 2 smaller ones... ;) :D
Click to expand...
i was waiting for that. :D

binary visions said:
Why bother with a SATA burner? Just get an IDE burner, there are deals at newegg almost daily.
Click to expand...
i think plextor makes exceptional drives, and they have phased out their IDE DVD writer (which is why i couldn't get a replacement). newegg is out of them. hence the next generation choice. i placed the order, so i guess i'll make do.
 
RaID

RaID

Turbo Monkey
Oct 27, 2001
1,393
0
Not the real North Shore (Sydney), Aus
when i was working at a computer wholesaler in the warranty
department we got quite a large number of cracked and shattered cds within disc drives
aswell as a few drives themselves cracked internally

however the best one that came in was
a broken cd burner that somehow managed to spit out a and jame the crakcked CD
throught the back of the drive, dont ask how but the CD fit throught the little gap there
 
D

d-sop

Guest
binary visions said:
Ouch.

Of course the knowledge doesn't help you a lot now, but cracked discs are a bomb waiting to explode, and when they go, they often take the CD drive with you. More than likely, one or more of the exploded pieces bounced off the sensitive laser lens and broke it.

Sorry to hear your drive got toasted, but at least they're fairly cheap to replace!
Click to expand...
cheap my ass. sorry, but its true. if you have no money, like me.
 
binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,149
1,250
NC
d-sop said:
cheap my ass. sorry, but its true. if you have no money, like me.
Click to expand...
Well, relative to not spending money at all, they're not cheap. But relative to the cost of other parts of the computer, they're among the cheaper ones.
 
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