[TriLUG] cdrom: does pushing the tray in damage them?

[Joseph Mack NA3T]

On Mon, 9 Oct 2006, mike shlitz wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I was told and/or read somewhere long ago (around the
> time cdroms came out), that one should ALWAYS use the
> button to effect closing and NEVER push the tray to
> close  it.

did a quick survey of the conventional wisdom with google
and "cdrom drive damage push in tray"

gentle push not OK:

http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Tips_on_Maintaining_CD-ROM-75805-1.html

http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:HiVphJI8K5wJ:www.tascamcontractor.com/ftp_resources/files/manual/TEAC_CD-W512S_manual.pdf+cdrom+drive+damage+push+in+tray&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=39&client=firefox-a

http://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/spr00/cs111/labs/sound/2.html


gentle push is normal method of closing tray:

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/archive/t-4191.html

http://www.informat.io/?title=cd-rom


forum where some think it OK and some don't:

http://forums.pcworld.co.nz/archive/index.php/t-55805.html

There's several stories of trays being pushed too hard, 
presumably jumping a cog and the drive going clickety-click 
thereafter. This is hardly a surprise. Neither of my two 
drives are making any unusual noises.

So google hasn't resolved the matter either.

I'd hate to spend the rest of my life gingerly pressing 
buttons because two cdroms in a row died the same way, only 
to find out on my death bed that the IETF RFC for cdroms 
requires them to accept a gentle push, and that I just had 
two crappy drives in a row. (I don't use cdroms much and so 
I don't spend any money on them - most of my cdroms have 
come from recycled machines). This is the way weird 
religions get started. "Son, pusheth in thine tray with 
thine button, lest thou fall into bedevilment and 
confusion".

cdroms clearly allow you to give a gentle push to start the 
retraction. Otherwise you'd push and nothing would happen - 
the motor wouldn't start till you hit the button. Presumably 
if it's possible to do, then you should be able to do it if 
you want.

I guess I could assume I've had a run of crappy cdroms. I 
could go hog wild and pay $29.99 at Intrex for the deluxe 
model and see how long it takes to die. This is a drop in 
the bucket compared to what I spend on hard disks.

Joe


-- 
Joseph Mack NA3T EME(B,D), FM05lw North Carolina
jmack (at) wm7d (dot) net - azimuthal equidistant map
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