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- CARE AND HANDLING OF CD-ROM DISCS
-
- The following guidelines represent the current thinking for the care
- and handling of CD-ROM discs, by a number of CD-ROM disc and drive
- manufacturers. The validity and usefulness of most of these
- guidelines have not been substantiated by Government testing and
- therefore are presented for information only.
-
- Wash your hands before contact with the disc. If available, wear
- lint-free cloth gloves, finger cots, or talc-free latex gloves.
-
- If you must wipe the disc, do so with a soft, dry, lint-free cloth in
- a radial motion- that is from the inner to the outer hub- not in a
- circular motion around the disc like you might do for a phonograph
- record. The most devastating scratches are those which occur along a
- radius of the disc which can obscure a long stream of pits.
-
- Certain cleaning agents and solvents can damage the discs. Some of
- these include: gasoline, paint thinners, benzine, acetone, carbon
- tetrachloride, chlorinated cleaning solvents, ammonia, and household
- detergents which contain ammonia. Do not clean with a water soaked
- cloth. The use of Isopropyl alcohol, the ingredient in many
- commercial CD cleaning products, as well as certain waxes and acrylic
- liquids, is still questionable.
-
- Do not clean the label side of the disc.
-
- Use of a CD-ROM caddy is highly recommended during transport and
- operation. Limit the amount of physical contact with the disc.
-
- Always handle the disc by the outer edge and/or the inner (hole) edge.
- Never touch the data surface.
-
- Discs like to "live" in the same conditions that people do; that is:
- They don't like to be manhandled
- They don't like exposure to temperature extremes
- They don't like exposure to excess humidity
- They don't like exposure to high intensity UV light
-
- Ron Kushnier, Chairman
- Compact Disc- Reliability & Integrity of Media Working Group of
- The Special Interest Group on CD-ROM Applications and Technology
- Code 5053
- Naval Air Warfare Center
- Warminster, PA. 18974
- (215) 441-1624
- FAX (215) 441-7271
-