Hi JAY.

02-Jan-03 21:56:00, JAY EMRIE wrote to PETER MAY


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

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

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

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

on a stamped (factory) CD the data is recorded in the "texture" of the
plastic under label and the aluminium coating, if the coating flaked off
maybe it could be repaired, if the texture got damaged as you say those
bits are gone... (I know omeone who wrote their name on their windows CD
using a ball-point it crushed the texture and could be seen from the
underside) the CD was useless after that.

on a CDR it's done with a chemical (I think) reaction, and is probably more
fragile. bright lights will shine dimly through many brands of CDR.

 -=> Bye <=-

---