Comment by wk_end
6 hours ago
There's a belief in certain corners of the gaming community (and maybe other communities that deal with optical discs) that if the disc drive's laser has to "try hard" to read a disc it will eventually "burn out". Not sure if this is backed up by any actual data or facts - it sounds plausible to me that a laser might dynamically adjust its power level as needed, and that over time that might be bad for it; but it also sounds a bit like people might be anthropomorphizing the laser or something.
I would be more conserned with the laser motor wearing out. That is what killed my Dreamcast. The laser was fine but the motor to move it just gave up from too much use.
This is why I keep my optical drives' moving parts clean and well-lubricated and freshen them up every few years
What do you use to lubricate them? I've got a few PS2s that are starting to give occasional disc read errors and a little laser maintenance might be overdue
1 reply →