Caring for Your DVDs

CDs and DVDs are nearly perfect storage media — but notice the word nearly. You have two or three outstanding methods of ruining a disc. The trick is not to become proficient at any of them, so the following list covers the best ways to use, clean, and store your discs.

• You gotta grip 'em by the rim! Take a good, close look at your hands. When was the last time you washed them? Reading data from a disc that's covered in fingerprints and dust is a touch-and-go process at best, because the laser beam has to get through all that crud twice (especially on DVDs, because the data is packed even closer together). Therefore, you must know how to hold a disc properly.

You can either hold the disc by the outside edge, as shown in Figure 1, or — if your fingers are small enough — create your own "spindle" using a convenient finger, as shown in Figure 2.

The idea behind these holds is simple: Never touch the underside of a disc and never put a disc down on any surface. Flipping a disc over and setting it label-side down for a second or two is okay, but put the disc back in its case as soon as possible.

• Protect your discs from deadly enemies. To keep your discs safe and avoid skips or data read errors, shelter your discs from these arch-villains:

• Pointed objects: Scratches are taboo, and that goes for either side of a disc.

• Heat: How would you like to spend a hot summer afternoon in a closed car, baking on the seat? Underneath that high-tech design, a disc is basically a circle of plastic. Keep your discs cool and out of direct sunlight.

• Surface crud: These culprits include liquids, dust, dirt, and peanut butter.

You may have seen one or more CD laser lens cleaners at your local computer store; they usually look something like a disc with a little hairbrush mounted on it. Never use one of these cleaners on a CD or DVD recorder because it can damage the laser! In fact, the laser read and write heads inside a recorder need no maintenance.

• Store your recorded discs properly. Stacking them in a big pile in front of your monitor is one answer, but it's the wrong answer. Your discs must be protected from dust and scratches. Of course, storing discs in their jewel boxes is a good idea — that is, until you have an entire 200-disc stand filled, and the stand takes up an entire corner of your room! Here's a tip: You can save that space and still provide the protection that your discs need with a disc binder. A binder has individual pockets that can hold from 10 to 250 discs, so you can donate your jewel boxes to your friends.

• Sometimes you've just gotta wipe. You may say, "I've seen an entire shelfful of CD cleaning stuff at the local GenericMart. Do my discs need cleaning?" If a disc is only dusty, use a lint-free photographer's lens cloth, which you can pick up at any camera shop. You can also pick up a spray bottle of disc-cleaning fluid for liquid disasters, such as those unavoidable soda stains. Other than a cloth and some fluid, however, you can leave all the expensive James Bond contrivances on the shelf at the department store.

Figure 3 illustrates how to wipe a disc: Start at the center and wipe straight toward the outside of the disc, making sure that you apply no more than fingertip pressure. Wiping harder — or wiping in a circular motion — can scratch your disc and invite chaos into its ordered world of 0s and 1s.