Made in the USA

You may have bought bundles of writable CDs or DVDs that have at either end of the stack of actual optical discs a clear plastic disc, and wondered what you could use these things for.  I have collected about 20 to 25 of them trying to come up with some idea for something decorative or useful.  Well an idea came to me the other day while I was repairing a computer.

I’ve worked on many computers over the years in which the CD/DVD drive had a mechanical flaw.  The tray had trouble sliding out when the user hits the eject button, or when they choose Eject from the menu.  In most cases this was not a problem when there was already a disc in the drive, but if they wanted to insert a disc, the tray would stick.  Of course you could use the paper clip in the emergency eject hole method, but that too had its inconveniences.

I don’t know why I never thought of this before, or why I’ve never come across this idea elsewhere.  It’s so simple. 

Leave one of these clear plastic discs in the tray all the time except when you want to use an actual CD or DVD.  When you turn on the computer it won’t try to boot from the clear disc.  It also doesn’t slow down the system as much as a blank CD or DVD would.  And with most of those sticky problem drives, the clear disc allows the tray to slide out effortlessly.

So if your CD/DVD drive is giving you a similar problem, and you have some of those blank discs just begging to become useful, give this idea a try.  It works for me.  And if you’ve never bought bundled discs just ask your friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc. if they have any.  I can’t be the only one who doesn’t just throw them away.

Tracy Henness