Cable Forum - Do hand-cleaning products damage CDs and DVDs

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Re: Do hand-cleaning products damage CDs and DVDs

Those figures will be best case scenario.
I have CDR's and CDRW that are unreadable and music CD's from the early 90's that are beginning to rot away.

---------- Post added at 10:24 ---------- Previous post was at 09:35 ----------

Apparently there are places you can go to have your CD's repaired, one shop being GAME.

https://helps.game.co.uk/en/support/...74-disc-repair

Re: Does soap damage CDs/DVDs?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul (Post 36145364)

Yep, regardless of any cleaning products, recordable CDs degrade over time.
Depending on quality, their lifespan could be as short as 20 years. Commercial [eg Music] CDs [should] last a lot longer.

In short, No, a CD/DVD player simply shines a laser at the disk.
They wont be damaged any more than a torch would be if you shined it at one.

Thank you for the replies and for informing us that residue does not damage the actual player.

I think what these questions come town to is how CDs and DVDs are protected from all types of products and whether that protective layer protects the contents from things like handwashing products.

---------- Post added at 14:35 ---------- Previous post was at 14:32 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by spiderplant (Post 36145381)

Just found this:

Code:

Optical disc formats         Average longevity

CD-R (phthalocyanine dye, gold metal layer)         >100 years

CD-R (phthalocyanine dye, silver alloy metal layer)         50 to 100 years

DVD-R (gold metal layer)         50 to 100 years

CD (read-only, such as an audio CD)         50 to 100 years

CD-RW (erasable CD)         20 to 50 years

BD-RE (erasable Blu-ray)         20 to 50 years

DVD+R (silver alloy metal layer)         20 to 50 years

CD-R (cyanine or azo dye, silver alloy metal layer)         20 to 50 years

DVD+RW (erasable DVD)         20 to 50 years

BD-R (non-dye, gold metal layer)         10 to 20 years

DVD-R (silver alloy metal layer)         10 to 20 years

DVD and BD (read-only, such as a DVD or Blu-ray movie)         10 to 20 years

BD-R (dye or non-dye, single layer or dual layer)         5 to 10 years

DVD-RW (erasable DVD)         5 to 10 years

DVD+R DL (dual layer)         5 to 10 years

That's a lot longer than your typical hard drive.

I bought my first CDs in 1986, and I haven't noticed any failing yet.

Neither have I, and I bought my first CDs in the early 90s. Yes the odd track on the odd disc doesn't play properly but it's very rare and from memory it's generally the last disc on the CD which has become corrupted over time.

Re: Do hand-cleaning products damage CDs and DVDs

CD's hate circumferential scratches as this tends to upset the tracking and make them jump.

I have a polishing kit that will remove them but needs to be used sparingly as it removes some of the lacquer coating.

Re: Do hand-cleaning products damage CDs and DVDs

I don't know where this idea of a "lacquer coat" comes from. They have always been a sandwich between polycarbonate layers AFAIK.

Polycarbonate is highly resistant to most chemicals, but not Methyl Alcohol (Methanol).

Some hand sanitisers were found to be contaminated with methanol which cause them to be recalled and destroyed.

Some soaps contain moisturisers to stop the skin drying-out after use.

Re: Do hand-cleaning products damage CDs and DVDs

Thank you for both replies.

I presume that this polycarbonate layer is what protects the content of the discs from being damaged when discs come into contact with all manner of different things, including the chemicals (and moisturisers) used in soap and other hand washing/sanitising and products.