World's Crappiest Drives (was Re: A&J Microdrive)

From: Dwight Elvey <elvey_at_hal.com>
Date: Fri Dec 8 16:37:47 2000

Sellam Ismail <foo_at_siconic.com> wrote:
> On 8 Dec 2000, Iggy Drougge wrote:
>
> > Apparently the actual data layer is located very near the label face
> > of the disc. Hence, the outer layer of the see-through face is quite
> > thick, and you may remove some without damaging the data. It worked
> > quite fine in the review.
>
> Ok, so I've been reading all the replies on this. And from what people
> are saying, I'm lead to believe that scratches on the non-label surface
> have no effect on the ability of the CD to be read? This goes totally
> against my experience with CDs, so I'd appreciate someone clarifying this.
>
> I'm under the assumption that I'm going to rub Colgate on the non-label
> side of my CD and then rub it circularly until the scratches are
> diminished.

Hi Sam
 You are both right. The CD is read through the bottom material
that is thicker. The top side has a think layer before it actually
reaches that data part. The thickness of the bottom improves
the ability to read through small scratches since the surface
is farther from focus ( Hold your finger up close to your eye
and look past it at something a few feet away. Notice that you
only see fuzzy shading caused by your finger. ). They take advantage
of this to see through small scratches.
 A good sized scratch on the top can go right to the data layer.
Dwight
Received on Fri Dec 08 2000 - 16:37:47 GMT