#1654: Discrubber

Long ago, storing stuff on optical media seemed like such a good idea.

But the disks are much more fragile than promised and the software for correcting the effects of surface damage is markedly less than perfect.

Today’s invention is an addition to the existing arm which carries the lens over the surface of a DVD or CD (remember CDs?)

Before accessing data on the disk, the lens would undertake a number of radial passes as the disk was rotated (with the lens covered). It would thus detect any areas of surface damage.

At these points, a replaceable buffing pad would be made to contact the disk and oscillated radially backwards and forwards, with the disk still, until the largest surface damage had been smoothed out.

No more random scrubbing with the corner of my old T shirt in the middle of a climactic scene.