How to clean a drive at home without a cleaning disc. How do I delete data from a DVD to prepare it for a new burn? What to do if it does not lead to the desired result

If your dvd disc is not readable on a computer or dvd player, then most likely the electronic media just needs to be cleaned. There are several ways to remove traces of dirt that interfere with playback, all of which require extreme care.

Instruction

To remove dust from a DVD disc, wipe it with a soft cloth made from natural materials. At the same time, direct your movement from the center of the disk to the edge along the radius, and not in the reverse order. It is not recommended to wipe the surface of the disc in a circle, since circular damage is much more difficult to get rid of.

Try to blow off dust from the surface of the electronic media using a special can, sold for this purpose in computer stores. Direct the jet of air from the can parallel to the surface of the disc and wait until there is no trace of dust left.

To remove fingerprints from the surface of a DVD disc or any other contamination, moisten a piece of soft cloth with ethyl or isopropyl alcohol, then wipe the electronic media dry with radial movements.

To clean a DVD disc more thoroughly, dampen its surface with water, lather your hands and gently lather the shiny side, then rinse gently with water and pat dry with a cloth that easily absorbs moisture, such as a soft terry towel. Do not dry the disc with a hair dryer, as this may damage it.

Use glass cleaner by applying it to a soft cloth and wiping the surface of the disc in the direction of the radius. Or dip the dvd media in such a solution and leave it in it for 5-7 minutes, and then wipe the disc dry with a piece of soft cloth made of natural material.

Please note that solvents such as acetone, gasoline, kerosene, and other mixtures that contain petroleum products are absolutely not suitable for cleaning discs. They can cloud the surface of a DVD disc, as a result of which the electronic media becomes unsuitable for further use. Only solvents based on alcohol should be used.

Tip added February 16, 2012 Tip 2: How to clean up a CD CDs are used, in particular, for long-term storage and transfer of computer files. The more actively CD-carriers are used, the more urgent the task of periodic cleaning of the surface becomes. To solve it, you can use as special sets industrial production, and improvised means. In addition, cleaning disks does not always mean their surface, sometimes it refers to their contents.

Instruction

Purchase a special optical disc cleaning kit that includes the necessary items to clean the surface of CD/DVD media. As a rule, the package contains a bottle with a special liquid and a sponge or a set of disposable wipes. In addition to them, the set may also include a spray can, which allows, in the most direct sense of this expression, to “blow off dust particles” from the tracks of an optical disk. Moreover, the basis of some kits is automatic device, into which you need to fill the supplied consumables and place an optical disc, and the device itself will perform the cleaning procedure without your participation. The simplest of the kits contains a number of disposable wipes soaked in a special liquid.

Find a soft, lint-free cotton cloth if you can't get a special kit. Plain water can be used as a washing liquid. Glass cleaner is fine too.

If the kit is intended for manual cleaning of optical discs, do it with movements from the center to the edge - the likelihood of causing mechanical damage in a circular motion is much higher. After the procedure is completed, the CD must be dry. If you used special materials from the purchased kit, the liquid will evaporate from the surface by itself. Otherwise, wipe the disc with a dry cotton cloth in the same radial motion.

Use an optical disc burning application if it's not the surface of the CD that needs cleaning, but its contents. But first you should find out whether such an operation is possible in principle. A prerequisite is that your computer has a CD/DVD burner. In addition, the CD itself must be reusable. If the CD label contains the letter W, then this condition is also met. Another possible obstacle is that if during the previous recording of data to the disk it was “finalized” (the corresponding mark was set in the recording settings), then no changes in its contents are now possible.

With one of the latest versions operating systems(for example, Windows 7 or Windows Vista) use its own components to clean up the disk directory. Load the CD into the reader, launch File Explorer and right-click on the optical drive icon. In the context menu, select the "Format" line and a window with disk cleanup settings will appear on the screen. It is not necessary to change anything in the default settings, click the "Start" button and the CD formatting process starts.

Sources

• how to free cd

How to Clean a CD - Printable Version

As I wrote earlier in other articles, the biggest problem for a computer is dust. It is clogged wherever possible in such quantities that sometimes you are simply amazed. The DVD optical drive is no exception.

Dust, if the device is not cleaned, affects the operation of the drive tray, reduces the accuracy of the laser mechanism and affects the quality of the clamping mechanics. In general, a DVD drive should be cleaned at least once a year. Ideally, once every six months.

To clean and maintain your DVD drive, you will need lubricant, cotton swabs, and alcohol. After removing the DVD drive from system block you need to remove the front panel. First of all, you need to pull out the drive tray. This is done with the help of any long and thin object (needles, paper clips, a piece of wire 3 cm long).

There is a small hole on the front panel of any DVD drive (item 2 on the bottom photo). Behind it (on the inside of the panel) is a mechanism for manually opening the tray. It is necessary to press this mechanism with a little effort through the hole and the tray will extend 1-2 centimeters, after which it can be pulled out manually to the end.

Next, remove the dust cover from the tray. To do this, turn the drive over and, bending the cover with your fingers, pull it down. On the cover, as a rule, there are two latches (item 1 on the bottom photo) and two guides on which the cover is held. It comes off without much effort.

Next, you need to drown the latches on the front panel. There are usually four (two on the bottom, two on the sides), or five (two on the sides, three on the bottom). After removing the front panel, the bolts (4 or 5 pieces) on the bottom cover of the DVD drive are unscrewed and the cover is removed.

Then you need to take the DVD drive by the top cover and shake it slightly. The plastic drive mechanism will fall out of the top cover (see photo below). After removing the covers, the optical disc tray itself is removed. It extends to the stop, then the latches located on the back of the tray at the corners are bent (see photo below) and the tray is removed.

All unnecessary parts have been removed from the DVD drive, you can start cleaning. The main body of the DVD drive has many notches, grooves and recesses. They must be thoroughly blown to remove accumulations of dust. Even a small amount of it at the back wall or in the grooves of the tray can cause the tray to stop opening (closing).

The tray is driven by a motor, which communicates with the mechanics with a rubber strap (belt). Remove the belt carefully so as not to stretch it. The mechanical operation of the drive tray depends on the condition of the belt. By the way, problems often arise with the tray after a long (more than two years) operation without maintenance. First, dust gets into the guides and the tray does not get into the extreme position because of this, and then the belt is stretched due to the fact that the drive mechanism cannot open the tray due to the incorrect position of the tray.

Following the belt, we remove the mechanics control board (1 or 2 latches). Also, be careful not to damage the motor control cable coming from the main board. On inexpensive models, the cables may well be fragile or poorly soldered. We remove dust from the mechanics with a soft brush or air from both sides (top and bottom). Ideally, it is advisable to go over the entire DVD drive first with a brush, and then blow it with air (for example, using a rubber bulb, which is sold in any pharmacy).

After all dust is removed from the drive housing, the rubber parts are degreased with alcohol and the old grease is removed from the guides (usually by the time of maintenance there is a mixture of fine dust and dirt with a small amount of remaining grease).

Finally, the movable rubbing mechanical parts are lubricated with a small (negligible) amount of grease just to form a film (no longer desirable). There should be no visible accumulation of grease.

The final touch is blowing (only with a rubber bulb) the lens of the laser mechanism (in no case should it be wiped) and the drive is assembled back.

Often you come across the fact that a previously perfectly playable disc suddenly stops loading or the files loaded on it simply do not open, although the drive seems to have detected their presence. What happened in this situation? Is the drive broken or is it time to throw such a disk in the trash? There are several ways to try to solve such a problem on your own without drastic measures to replace the drive or remove the drive itself from use.

1. To determine whether the drive is the cause or not, you need to try to play several discs with it. And if he does not read only a specific version, then it's not about him. If the situation repeats with the termination of reading discs or their problematic playback, then this is a problem with the drive.
2. In the case of a problematic disk, it must first be cleaned of dirt. There are many products for cleaning them, but from experience we can say that it makes no sense to spend money on any liquids - discs lend themselves perfectly to cleaning them in warm water and soap. After this procedure, they must be blotted with a well-absorbing towel and allowed to dry before being put into the drive again.
3. If the drive's laser readhead is dirty, a special "cleaning disc" can be dispensed with. Or you can remove the drive from the computer, remove the protective cover by moving it back and up. Then it is necessary with the help of something thin but strong, for example, a pin on front panel press the latch through the hole and open the tray that blocks access to the lens by pressing it. It is necessary to blow off coarse dust from the surface of the lens with a can of compressed air or even an ordinary pear, but in no case with your mouth. The pear should be without the presence of talc inside, otherwise everything will become even worse. With the help of a brush and lens cleaning fluid, you need to rinse the lens well, making light, completely non-pressure movements on it. After that, the lens should dry, and so that the dust cannot get on it again, it is better to cover it with something during the drying period. In case of plaque formation after drying, it must be removed with a dry soft brush. After that comes the drive assembly procedure.

The disc itself can be not only dirty, but also heavily scratched, which also affects its ease of playback. It is possible to restore its surface by polishing. With large and deep scratches, it is unlikely that anything will work, but if it has a lot of thread-like damage, this option can be completely “cured”.

The easiest way will require clean rags and goyim paste. The disk must be well wetted with water and a little paste should be applied to it, which must be spread evenly over the entire surface of the disk. Then with a rag you need to polish from the center of the disk to the edges, until the paste simply disappears. The number of such processes will depend on the state of the disk after each stage. As soon as the disappearance of the most conspicuous scratches is noted, we can assume that the disc has been polished. After polishing, the disc must be rinsed well, blotted and allowed to dry. After that, you can try to play his recording.

And at the end, a little tip. If you need to download a driver for your printer, scanner, modem or laptop, you can always do it at www.hwdrivers.com or www.driver.biz.ua.

Related articles.

How to clean DVD disc

Computers are an integral part of our work, life and leisure. However, with this widespread use and distribution of computer technology, ordinary users have certain difficulties with its operation. Particularly when it comes to working with disks. How to clear a DVD disc from an existing recording so that a new recording can be made, not everyone can figure it out. And it's not as easy as it seems. To simplify this task as much as possible, it is better to use a special program. and how to do it literally in one click will tell and make a special application for burning CD, DVD and Blu Ray discs - "Disc Studio".
How it works? Everything is elementary! Now you do not need to be a great professional in computer technology to complete this task. Actually, like a number of others, now the problem will not be the question of how to clean a DVD disc, or how to make a new recording on it - music or video.

So, cleaning the media is a separate function in the program: select the desired drive with the disk and click the "Empty Disk" button. If necessary, you can now overwrite and clear again an infinite number of times.

Even more - the program opens up a number of new possibilities: creating a beautiful design for your disk. For example, if you are compiling a home archive or preparing promotional materials for a presentation, handout. You can choose a disk image or use graphics. Everything that may be needed and everything that can come to mind is now easy, affordable and simple!

An important nuance is that working with the Disk Studio program, which can be downloaded, helps to save all valuable data from loss or unintentional destruction.

Disk Studio is good decision for those who want not only to simplify their communication with technology as much as possible, but also to “keep the mark” in everything. Order in your own archives and easy work will be provided.

It may happen that we bought a film, watched it and gave it to our friends or acquaintances to watch. Then, after returning the disc, it suddenly stopped being read.

What happened? We open the drive, carefully look at the disk and see with disappointment that scratches have appeared on it, which were not there before, but what is even more strange: it is somehow all dirty, smeared with something, covered in some kind of dried spots. How can he read to the poor? It's just that the child of friends acted carelessly with it: for example, he threw the disk face down on a dirty table, and, God forbid, put some object on top of it and moved it around the table.

In no case don't wipe the cd some napkins or rags - you can scratch (damage) the working surface of the disk even more ...

Well, with scratches, nothing can be done. If they are insignificant, then the disc will be read. But you can remove dirt from the disk by washing it in warm water with soap. Yes, like a regular plate, only with your hands, not with a rag or sponge.

We moisten with plain water and gently distribute the soapy solution over the surface with a soapy hand. Simply put, thoroughly wash with your hands until the dirty stains are completely removed.

Done, washed:

Then you can just shake it well and let it dry, but if the water is hard, after drying, traces of hardness salts may remain. For drying, we simply blot with a well-absorbing matter, for example, a terry towel:

It is advisable to gently blot, wipe (rub) the CD / DVD disc, it is not worth it. Any friction on the working surface of the disk is fraught with its scratching, what if a grain of sand remains in the matter? So it's safer to get wet:

And do not touch the work surface with your hands if possible:

Let the disk dry completely for a few tens of seconds and that's it. Disk ready to eat. Try it, it may happen that those discs that were not read before will be successfully read in your drive.

By the way, if most of the discs from your collection are not readable in a CD / DVD drive, then check it on another drive, let's say with friends or acquaintances. It may happen that it is time to change the drive due to the mechanical displacement of the reading head relative to the surface (they say that “the eye has gone astray”).