2. misc-audio
  3. 140075-2280

Is There a fix for CD Pin-holes (CD Rot)

I have several early CD's (1984 to 86) with pinholes and some pitting on the label side. Mostly German pressings, many made by PDO. They all have played fine until I bought some early discs with the silver mould area. Pinholes in the center ring cause disks to spin loudly in the transport and sometimes cause read errors.

I've read about the deterioration of CD's; haven't seen any with discolouration (CD rot). Is there anyway to preserve the many CD's in my collection so that discs will continue to play?
And please don't suggest that I give up and burn the discs to a server. I like the physical medium and many of my discs are collectables.

 

128x128lowrider57
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57 OP
3,018 posts
 
Thanks for the comments, everybody.

@djones51, true cloning would be the best quality. I've seen it done with professional gear at a video facility. Also, high quality CDR's are used.


lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57 OP
3,018 posts
 
Anybody have experience using a CD mat such as this...
https://www.musicdirect.com/vibration-control/millennium-carbon-fiber-cd-mat

My damaged CDs play fine thru my PS Audio PWT since it corrects read errors. The discs that wont play have the pinholes in the silver center ring.

photon46
1,008 posts
 
I have no experience with this program myself, but this receives mention in computer audio forums as an alternative to toast at a lower cost ($32.00.) Toast is on sale for $70 at present. I'd used Toast quite a bit with good results in the past.
http://www.nticorp.com/NTI-Dragon-Burn-4.html
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57 OP
3,018 posts
 
Thanks everyone but I've found my answer.
Regarding pinholes:
Pinholes are caused by contaminates (dust particles usually) on the surface during metallization during manufacturing prior to sealing the edges. The metallization layer does not adhere at that given spot. Hence the appearance of a pinhole. However, despite appearing to be clear at that spot, there is still a lot of material around the pinhole that reflects the laser, combined with the error correction robustness, that 99+% of the time has no effect on sound or data reading.

Pinholes are sealed in at manufacturing and do not or cannot grow. Nothing to worry about. It either plays from new or doesn't.
  You can see through, but they are just holes in the metal layer, not real holes.
Excerpt from this forum...
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/what-exactly-causes-pinholes-on-cds.637893/

Only two CDs wouldn't play probably due to pitting on the silver center ring (it sounded like the disk was spinning w/o reading).

lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57 OP
3,018 posts
 
I'm going to try the CD shields offered by LAST ...

https://thelastfactory.com/product/special-cd-dvd-cleaner-treatment-free-digi-last-cd-shields/
 
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