Katrina mini-disc recovery

[Kuroyanagi]

Yesterday while rummaging through the remains my destoryed home in the New Orleans area I found part of my live recorded MD collection.

Anyway, I rinsed off the cases, but the discs inside are covered with a fine-grained muck.

I was wondering if there were any tips for cleaning the muck off of the disc? Could I use a MD case that was unaffected by the flood waters and wipe off the discs. I just want to play them once so I can transfer them to FLAC files.

Thanks!

--

[JazzyBananas]

oops..wrong place

Edited November 1, 2005 by JazzyBananas

[Syrius]

You can crack the shell open, and put the discs to soak in distilled water (if available, which I doubt) Don't use soap or a cleaner until you have rinsed off the dirt. Then clean them with a CD cleaner product that has isopropyl alcohol and water in it. Avoid the ones that contain surfactants and silicon oil as it will leave a film on the disc.

The top of the disc is covered with silicon grease to allow the recording head to glide better. But you will have to clean it since there'll be debris stuck to it. And we don't want sand and particles grinding against the head, right? (I haven't had a problem with any disc I've washed the grease off).

After you take off the muck, you may want to use soapy water to remove the grease off the top of the disc. Then use the CD cleaner on the bottom of the disc.

Then copy your discs. We don't know what effect all that water and other compounds might have on the top layer. If that chips off, esp without the silicon grease, your disc is as good as gone.

[A440]

Full sympathies about Katrina. Here's to hoping you can rebuild your life there.

I'd suggest asking about the discs through Sony chat support at

http://esupport.sony.com/EN/feedback/feedback.html

Putting an old disc in a new case sounds like a good idea as long as you can get the shutter to work. Sounds like you're handy, so see what happens. But I'd suggest that instead of wiping--which could scratch the disc with the fine grit--that you dip them in slightly soapy water first and try to wash off as much grit as possible. .