Sony Storage Support

Care and Cleaning of DVD or CD Discs
As an optical medium, Recordable DVD/CD media is exceptionally well-suited to the rigors of real life. However, discs are not indestructible. You can help preserve the life of your discs by following a few simple precautions. Here is some basic information on the care and cleaning of discs.
Handle the disc by the edges, avoid touching the shiny surface where dirt, oil and fingerprints can leave residue. When not in use, store the disc in its case. When placing the disc in the case, make sure it is seated firmly in the center holder. Also, try and keep discs away from excessive heat, sunlight, or anything that may scratch them. The discs are not based on magnetic signals, so magnets and strong electrical fields will not affect them like they will videotapes, credit cards or floppy discs.
If a disc gets dirty, you can clean them easily with any on-the-market cleaning kits or basic rubbing alcohol. But avoid using abrasives, solvents, or highly acidic cleansers. And use a soft, lint-free cloth, and wipe gently in a straight line from the center of the disc, out. This will avoid any potential scrapes from interrupting with the circular path of the signal.
With scratches, it is not the actual data section of the disc that is damaged; it is the clear coating that protects the data section of the disc that has become damaged. Thus, the scratch is interfering with the path that the laser must travel through to get to the information. To fix this, you can repair the disc by either filling the scratch with an optical material, or polishing down the scratch to remove it. There are many commercial products designed to help you do this, but you can also use a polishing compound, or even toothpaste to get the trick done. Just make sure you do not create any new scratches while you remove the old ones by polishing in straight lines away from the center. Cracked or warped discs may damage a media playing/recording device. If a disc breaks inside of the unit, pieces are likely to strike the optics.
When working with DVD or CD recordable media follow the guidelines below:

• Avoid touching or scratching the signal side (shinier side) of the disc.

The disc medium is designed to accommodate some measure of fingerprints and scratches. Your own experience with audio CDs probably confirms this. But data disc are more sensitive to fingerprints and scratches than music CDs. That's because audio CD players employ a special "error concealment" mode unavailable in data CD-ROM drives. So don't test the limits of error correction.

• Hold the disc by the edges or by the center hole.

Hold, store and use your disc with a little extra care

• Attach approved paper labels to the media.

Try to maintain the balance of the media. Attaching a label to only part of the media disc may create an imbalance. Also, the signal surface is closer to the label side, so take particular care when marking your discs. Use only felt tip pens when writing directly on the disc -- never hard tip or ball point pens.

• Avoid excessive heat.

Do not expose the disc to direct sunlight, excessive heat or humidity. In particular, do not leave a disc on the dashboard of a car. Storage conditions should be held within 5 to 158 degrees Fahrenheit (-15 to 70 C) and 3 to 95% Relative Humidity. Operating conditions should be between 23 and 131 degrees Fahrenheit (-5 to 55 C) and 3 to 95% Relative Humidity.

• Remove dust or lint from the disc with a soft dry cloth.

If the surface should become stained or contaminated, gently wipe it off with a soft, dry lint-free cloth; a commercial cleaner or ethyl alcohol.

• Do not apply record cleaning fluids, anti-static solutions or chemicals to clean a disc.

Do not use benzene thinner, anti-static agents or conventional LP record cleaners. Because the disc is written in a spiral track, drives are particularly sensitive to scratches that follow the curve of the disc. For this reason, always wipe in a straight line, from the center of the disc out, in radial fashion. That way, any inadvertent scratches or residue will be perpendicular to the track, causing minimum interference.

• Store discs vertically and in a dust-free case whenever possible.

Keep the disc clean and protected from dust, stains, fingerprints and water marks. These can degrade the optical performance of your drive, causing read/write errors.