What is the best way to clean your dvd-burner?

Question

What is the best way to clean your dvd-burner?

Answer 1

Probably some sort of lens cleaner.

http://www.amazon.com/Allsop-23321-Carbon-Edge-CD-Drive-Cleaner/dp/B00000J1QM

Answer 2

Ed Bott found that these CD lens cleaners actually work shockingly well:

http://www.edbott.com/weblog/?p=2703

I probably turned 30 disks into coasters while investigating this problem, trying every troubleshooting trick I know to find the source of the problem. Converting the source files to WAV format and caching them locally didn’t help. The problem wasn’t software, either, as I found by repeating the issue with multiple burning programs, including Media Monkey and Easy Media Creator 10.

In several forum posts, I had read recommendations for special disks designed to clean the laser on a CD/DVD player/burner [..] When I received the product and removed it from its packaging, I have to confess I was skeptical. It looks like a regular music CD with instructions on the label side and a half dozen small brushes arranged in a track on the bottom (shiny side) near the center of the disk. In Windows Media Player, it plays like a music CD, with 14 tracks that include audio instructions delivered in a friendly female voice, along with some test tones to help you determine whether your speakers are wired correctly.

After completing the entire suite of tests in 10 minutes or so, I popped in a blank CD, fired up Media Monkey, and told the software to burn a collection of FLAC files from a network location to CD, converting them to WAV files in a local cache on the fly. Surprise! The first disk burned just fine. As did a second, a third, and a fourth.

Amazon links for Memorex lens cleaner, Allsop lens cleaner

Answer 3

I've heard one of the best things to do is get some compressed air cans and use short bursts of air to try and clean it out a bit...

From what I've heard, don't poor liquids directly into the drive. It tends to break things...