iMac scratching my disc?

I've noticed that my iMac's drive seems to put more "wear" into my discs. I'd put in a relatively new disc, and when I eject it some time later I sometimes notice more of the small scratches that accumulates on optical discs. Could it be from the covering on the drive? Maybe the inside?

Sometimes my optical drive sounds like a plane taking off, though probably not as loud. Occasionally I hear an inconsistant hissing noise, as though a label is caught in there, when all I did was label it with a Sharpie or even used a professionally pressed disc. There's definitely something up with the iMac SuperDrives.

Hi guys, i bought a new iMac 27" when it first came out. My discs have been scratched and neither DVS's or CD's will burn. I keep getting an error message ( 0x8002006E) with the disc burning utility so tried Toast 10 but that didn't work either, just came up with error. I rang Apple on Thursday and after a couple of suggestions ( resetting p ram, try different brand of disc's) the tech guy said i need to take it in to get it looked at. So my poor baby going into shop for god knows how long lol. Taking to shop Monday so Will keep you all posted on what they say.

Hello Everyone. I thought I would contribute to this post and describe what I did to resolve the issue I was having.

Issue: Every time I was making a disc, playing a disc, or just inserting it to mount the disc upon ejection I would discover parallel lines which under the correct light were very obvious. This was clearly not related to the spinning of the disc but rather the act of inserting/ejecting of the disc.

Upon further trouble shooting, and the assistance of this thread, I realized that the small aluminum slot in the body of my new iMac 27" Quad was to blame. The metal was ever so slightly unevenly cut and as a result was contacting the disc upon my removal of it from the machine.

Test: I ever so carefully inserted and removed the disc by checking that the disc does not contact the metal... no scratches as a result.

Clearly I would not have the patients to repeat this level of delicateness for future use, nor would want to have to explain this process to anyone who came over to view their content on my iMac (could have a way of depreciating an amazing machine).

Solution (for me at least): I took some medical tape (similar material to that of a bandage as it is fabric based and very adhesive also thin) and applied it carefully to the inside 1/4" of the slot that was visible. I only needed to do this up to the point where the aluminum ends and thus did not have to actually enter or modify the inside of the iMac. I taped it securely around the back of the iMac to ensure that the tape if dislodged or if it slips off does not fall into the machine.

Result: With a high level of carelessness I pushed a clean/new disc into the machine, allowed it to spin a little and ejected it with the same level of carelessness... actually allowing it to rub against the back area of the slot where the damage was originating (now padded with the tape). The disc didn't have so much as a scratch on it. Repeated the abuse several more times and the disc still looks great.

Conclusion: Obviously the best thing I could of done if I was patient enough would of been to ship it back to Apple. I waited 6 weeks for this system and had just spent a day installing everything on it... waiting longer was not going to be an option for me.

Once my backlog is up to speed I will remove the tape and carefully smooth the aluminum with a file, using a vacuum to collect the particles as I do so. I'll post the response to this as well when the time comes.

I do hope this has helped someone. I know I was beginning to get depressed that my all-in-one was going to need a all-in-one-with-more (external combo drive).

I has the same problem with my new i5 Quad Core iMac. I used 3M Magic tape and carefully applied it to the rear of the slot which was responsible for scratching the dic surface. Solved the problem for now, disc verified Ok but, loss of several blank DVDs was irritating.

I have given feedback to Apple on this issue.

I recently received my new 27" iMac i7 and was quite pleased with everything about it until I started to rip a one of a kind medical DVD for a family member. They wanted to use a short segment of it in a lecture and I offered up my services. Upon mounting the disc the computer was having problems playing it properly. After ejecting it I discovered a series of harsh, parallel scratches going straight across the disc's surface.

I thought about it for a bit and tried loading some blank discs. Same thing. I was able to load a few with few or no scratches and came to the conclusion that the disc was coming in contact with the very sharp edge of the narrow loading slot cut out of the body of the machine. I came to this message board and found similar helpful posts and then began my trip through Apple tech support.

I created a complaint on-line. Was called back by Mike from tech support. He was quite nice and tried to be helpful but didn't seem to fully understand what I was telling him at first...assuming that a replacement machine or drive would solve the problem. I assumed that I was not the first person to report this problem and that a fix would already be in the works. Apparently no one I spoke with had heard of the problem though. I let him know that I had fully loaded the machine and would prefer not to be without it for more than a short time. He gave me the option of having someone come to my home and work on it here. I thought this was a good alternative but wasn't sure how they planned on fixing it. I put hope into the fact that "they" know more about this stuff than I do since they deal with it everyday. The tech guy from an outside company arrived with a new drive in hand, took one look at the problem, inserting a few discs himself and realized that a replacement drive would not help me. He went away having done nothing except verify that I had a "serious" problem.

I then called Apple back and got a woman on the line who was apparently the senior supervisor there. My unfortunate experience was about to turn exasperating as she said to me "Well, what do you want me to do about it?" I had been offered a replacement computer but I assumed they were all built the same. It would have been nice if someone was knowledgeable enough to confirm or deny this.

So I decided to follow up by making an appointment at the Apple store at the Glendale Galleria in the Los Angeles area. I drove 30 minutes and hauled my huge computer in, arriving 8 minutes late only to be told by the woman managing the "genius" bar that my appointment had been cancelled. I didn't expect them to hold my slot forever but I thought 8 minutes was acceptable. She didn't give me any option after that but just stared at me. I protested and she finally went to speak with her manager to find out if she could place me back on the list to speak with a "genius". She could and the counter was soon cleared of customers. I was sent to speak with a guy who saw my problem, checked a 27" iMac on their floor and found it similarly scratched discs if they were not inserted and removed with perfect precision. He went over the record of my complaint on his computer and said something to me that was strangely familiar..."Well, what would you like me to do about it?". I explained that I expected him to find me a solution or to put me in contact with someone that could. He explained that they had little power there at the store and that after reading in my record that an Apple designer/engineer had responded to my complaint (I had asked Mike to forward my complaint to the design team) by saying that "he will just have to learn to insert his discs straight into the machine" he sent me packing.

I don't know what to do except to fix it myself. I thought about gluing a piece of felt on the edge but after reading about using medical tape on this forum I may try that. Sounds like a pretty temporary and ugly solution. I must say that this seems like such an obvious problem that I'm shocked that the design team didn't anticipate this and take precautions. I would hope that they will come out with a thin plastic sleeve that will fit perfectly into the slot or perhaps some felt with some kind of super adhesive backing. I am left dumbfounded as to the inability of anyone to solve this serious problem on a brand new top of the line machine. My i7 shouldn't need a band-aid. Definitely design over function.

I have the same problem. The drive already scratched my Snowleopard en Windows 7 dvd.

the CD-DVD drive CAN scratch cd's and I have several cd's to prove it. My refurbished imac (24") was 8 days at the Apple store getting repaired. I have had the machine for about 9 weeks, and once again is scratching cd's when I try to burn audio discs, and get the error message "write media error." I am going to buy more cd's (different brands) to see if it helps. The Apple repair people told me that the first optical drive that they installed didn't work, and they installed another. When I picked up the machine they tested it by burning part of one song on their cd (Staples cd I think), and it seemed to work. When I tried to burn a cd at home (Sony and Fujifilm cd's) the "write media error" returned, and the cd had light random scratches on it. When I see the number of people having the same "write media error" problem, it gives me a whole new view of Apple products.

Just scratched 6 original music CDs and 5 brand new DVDs of wedding photos. I am really really ****** off at Apples so called designers. This is such an obvious design flaw, whoever did the product testing should by now be back at a Chinese milk powder factory. I tested with a couple of unmarked used CDs. They were easily scratched on the edge of the slot in the aluminium case. Serious scratching every time.

So I cut a piece of clear scotch packaging tape almost as long as the slot. Attached it to the outside surface (of the rear side of the slot), leaving enough to almost touch the other side of the opening. Folded this 2mm wide piece into the slot and smoothed it onto the inside rear surface. Smoothed the rest of the tape (about an inch wide) around onto the back of the computer. Tested again, impossible to get a scratch.

Now there may also be folks out there who also have a faulty drive, but I am talking about the opening in the case. The square edged slot in the aluminium.

Before Apple starts to question my CD/DVD insertion skills, I have 23 years of operating a graphic design business. I am among the most experienced and qualified disk inserters on the planet. I have installed many floppy drives, hard drives and optical drives.

And these things are being sold not just for pros but for first time domestic users. Such a stuff up of a product going to people who are getting their first taste of an apple will leave many of them looking for a PC as their next computer. I certainly wouldn't recommend the iMac to anyone who might use that slot until this simple problem is fixed.

In my business if a major client's DVD gets a scratch that makes it unreadable and it sets a job back by a day or three it could lose me that client. The client might also sue me if the job was time critical. So who would I sue, given that apple had sold me a computer which clearly put me the situation, and implied that the drive could be used in a similar fashion to other DVD drives?

OK apple. Stop bullshitting your customers or you will lose them. Go get piece of thin clear plastic, fold it to hook into the slot and round on to the back of a iMac. Add a little double adhesive tape. And send one to every iMac owner with instructions and a letter of apology. Offer to have a dealer fit it if the owner prefers. And hey, don't pay a team of your clever engineers megabucks to design this, I am happy to do it for free.

I purchased a quad core 27 inch IMAC on November 27th. After getting several "unreadable" messages on discs I was inserting, I checked the discs and noticed parallel scratches on new discs apparently caused by the sharp aluminum edge as the disc was inserted. This is obviously a design problem, yet Apple doesn't seem to have a response. I talked to the support people who suggested I take the machine into the Apple store. I did so and the tech was easily able to duplicate the problem both on my machine and a floor model. He said he would make note that he was able to duplicate the problem, but there is no apparent solution. I am VERY careful inserting discs, but it is still way too easy to scratch them.

I've hooked up an external DVD burner to my machine and now use that. I would hope that Apple can come up with some sort of fix such as a plastic sleeve or other cushioning to retrofit to these machines. If anyone else is having the problem, I would hope that they would contact Apple, since it seems they need lots of complaints in order to address a problem.

Other than this issue, the machine has performed well.

I have the same problem. The edges of the slot in the side of the aluminum case are rough, and it's way too easy to scratch discs when inserting or removing them. For now I'm using an external CD/DVD burner until Apple comes up with a fix on this. The computer is great otherwise.

I have the same problem with my 2 week old 27" iMac. Scratched up 4 brand new movies. After reading this discussion, I am wondering if I should keep my appointment with a "Genius" next week. They are not going to be able to help me anyway.

I have been a Mac user for many years and have convinced at least 6 people at work to switch to a Mac. I am really having seconds thoughts about the Macs. Maybe I will just return this one and get a Dell.

russiMac

I've been scratching CDs and DVDs for over a month. Made a Genius Bar appointment for tomorrow and I've printed off your description of how to successfully solve this problem.
Hope that they will at least read it and have a sincere wish to end this destruction.

I just received my new 27 " imac today, Feb. 1. I was aware of the numerous problems they've been plagued with, including scratching dics, but I was extremely hopeful that Apple would have put an easy fix on this scratching problem while they are trying to fix the monitor problems as well. Well, no such luck. I inserted 3 blank dvds into the drive and all three came out with a row of long horizontal scratches. The last time I tried to pull it gently toward me, as I'd seen suggested online, but still scratches. I'm really frustrated, since this problem was widespread enough that I already knew about it, yet Apple shipped it to me anyway hoping that it didn't matter. I shouldn't have to have tape sticking out of the side of my expensive quadcore imac. My store rep is out today, so we'll see what he says tomorrow.