Any way to tell if this damage is the drive's or disk's fault? & other Q's

Question

My laptop is a little loud in my opinion when dealing with disks generally, but I haven't used a laptop in a while, and the one CD-R I've burnt seems fine - the data is all there and the back seems clean.
But I inserted a Memorex CD-RW recently, and when I ejected it, the very thin silver ring around the very edge of the top of the disk had chipped away. I don't know if it was like that before I put it in. The CD-RW disk is at least four years old. I don't know how much I moved the laptop (if at all) while the drive was actually running. I only read the disk; I didn't burn it or anything like that. I inserted some other disks afterward and didn't see any damage - at least nothing as overt as this. Is there any way to tell what's at fault here?
Also, if any of the chips from the disk came off while the disk was inside my laptop, could they do any harm to the innards?
Message was edited by: LeaperBP

Answer 1

Hi
The thing to remember about CD blanks is that the silver layer is just stuck on a clear plastic disc. And yes over time especially using slot loading drives parts of this layer come off around the edge. I made several audio CDR's for use in the car, which is a slot loading drive. After a while they develop areas around the edge where the silver layer is missing.
It also depends on the quality of the CDR, I found some cheap ones which if you sneezed bits of the silver layer would fly off. While some Verbatim CDR's give the impression you could take a hammer and chisel to them. Also age has a great deal to do with CDR's, the older they are the more likely they will flake. Heat is the biggest killer, audio CDR's kept in cars can last no time at all.
If the drive is functioning OK then if the flake did come off while inside it is probably stuck somewhere out of the way causing no problem.
Laptop drives do tend to whirr, click and cause alarm when compared to say tray loading drives. You can sometimes get terrible vibration with some cheap disks where the hole is not central. I put a disk in once and thought my MacBook had turned into one of those vibrating slimming belts that used to be about :-))
Phil