PM>PM>PM>Remember when CDs first came out, they said you can scratch them
PM>PM>PM>and put
PM>PM>PM>fingerprints on them and they will still play OK. Well
it's not true!

PM>PM> JE> I think it is basically true. I have numerous CDs with
PM>PM> JE> scratches and smudges on the data side and they read from
PM>PM> JE> multiple drives just fine. You just canNOT scratch the
PM>PM> JE> the other side at all. Even the slightest pinhole can/will
PM>PM> JE> render the CD unreadable.

PM>PM>Are you talking about the side that has the label? Is is possible to just
PM> JE> blank
PM>PM>out the scratch with a special marker pen?

PM> JE> Yes that is the side I am talking about. Hold the CD up to a bight
PM> JE> light and look at it from the other side. If you can
PM> JE> see even the slightest pin hole in the CD NOTHING will fix
PM> JE> it. The data is recorded on the material that the label
PM> JE> printing is over. Once that material is breached that's all
PM> JE> there is to it. The scratch has actually removed some of the data.

PM>Thats whats wrong with two of my CD-ROMs. One is a driver disk of the type that
PM>dealers have, theres drivers for all sorts of devices on it. The other is a
PM>Win98 plus disk that will not read.
PM>You can just see a tiny pinhole of light through the driver disk, and a few
PM>more on the Win98 disk. Although they look OK and unscratched at first glimpse.
PM>I have learnt something here, I always thought it was the side facing the laser
PM>that was important.
PM>I can read most files off the disks using the DOS box 40X but my Win9X box with
PM>a new Liteon 40X12X48X CD-rewriter refuses point blank to cooperate.
PM>Maybe the older drives were more tolerant of defective CDs?

Well, I never had a CD reader until long after I started
using OS/2, then Windows so I have no experience with DOS
CD readers.

I do know the above you wrote about is true with the later
equipment.

Jay
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 þ OLXWin 1.00b þ My mind not only wanders - sometimes it leaves completely.