How often to clean a CD/DVD drive?
 

OKay quickie here..


Back in the day of cds, and cdroms and when I first got into playstation-
I bought "lens cleaning discs"
some were discs that had a little brush and so on-
some you sprtized some stuff and put it in.

In the years since, I have slacked in such things

How often SHOULD you clean lasers.

Thinking about it, between burners, duplicators, cd players, dvd players, playstation and so on I am surrounded by such things
Is there a maintenance? or schedule to these to keep hem clean and working well.

Those brushes ruin disc assemblies, laser lenses, and otherwise just smear mess in the drive. You do better to dismantle drives with a screwdriver, swipe an alcohol-soaked (isopropyl) swab across it, and put it back together again.

Do it when it acts up only. At most, every 6 months. Sometimes you can get away with a couple of years. Almost never the lifetime of the unit.

Non-smokers and those living in non-desert areas have to do it less.