In article 2CWSf.9131$z82.8920@fed1read07,
Bill Jeffrey wrote:
I would think that a CD label would be a GOOD thing, as long as you
don't pull it off (and why would you?).

*You* may not pull it off, however, your 68x SoopaDVDCombo drive may well
do that, in passing. The resulting mess will not be pretty. I've had
labels start to peel at the edges. The discs were clean, the labels not
"handled" at the edge. The discs were well stored.

Fortunately, the disks had a rhino hide coating on them that allowed the
label to be soaked off. I've stopped using labels since. I just don't
trust them to stick properly!

To the poster talking of "Finder", running a program to read all the
data is one way of knowing that it's TOO LATE for some of your data.

However, you can get an early warning of impending failure by using a
PROPER utility like Nero CD-Speed. This will run over the disk and show
you a count of C1 and C2 errors. On most disks you get a handful of C1
errors (low level) over the disk. And maybe a C2 error or two. These aren't
a problem. If you scan a disk and get hundreds of C1 errors, or handfuls
of C2 errors, then your disk is on the way out. Copy it ASAP. You get a
feel for what is "normal" after running CDROMS, CD-Rs etc. through
the drive. A really bad "C-GRADE NONAME CDR" will look like the side
of a mountain, as the C1 error count starts off and ramps into the
THOUSANDS.

This scan is done BEFORE you get to the state of data corruption where
the OS is sitting there saying "File error". Error correction is a wonderful
thing, but could be hiding the fact that your data is g=tting v ry fl ky
ind%!d.

Mike.
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Mike Brown: mjb[at]pootle.demon.co.uk | http://www.pootle.demon.co.uk/