[Barrie Smith]

I recently archived a 100 or so CD/DVDs to one of my hard drives.
One or two were unreadable. Checking them I discovered there were radial scratches on the lower side (the side the laser aims through). Then I found that nearly all my discs have similar scratches.

Looking further I discovered there was a forum discussing how some iMacs are scratching new discs on their loading.
Go to forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=836352

My solution was to apply a thin strip on the far edge of the loading slot. On testing with some virgin discs, the problem appears to be solved.

My PowerPC iMac has a plastic-edged slot. No probs.

Anyone else have comments?

BTW you can remove the scratches with toothpaste or Brasso. True!

[Ken Gracey]

Tooth paste and brasso are both a No, brasso contains small abrasive materials, and toothpaste contains bicarbonate soda, and some silicates, which all also not to friendly to the surface of your disk. O and yes I have also seen those scratch on my DVDs on my 5 month old 27 inch iMac, which is very annoying, so thanks for the tip barry, I will try the sticky tape trick myself.

[Barrie Smith]

Brasso is OK provided you completely remove it after using it.
BTW I have now found that gaffer tape is not ideal as it lifts inside the slot and can prevent the disc from unloading.

[Tim Grey]

That's really terrible. I'd be complaining to Apple about that if I were you.

Perhaps it's an under-the-radar attempt to ready us for the Death of the Optical Drive....

[Ken Gracey]

If its the case Tim, its working. I just double checked mine and nearly 100% of my DVDS have scratches after putting them in my drive