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[Nivim]

I've never done this to a disk...but to stop cracks in metal (and other materials) from enlarging, you drill a small, circular hole at the terminating point of the crack.  It spreads to force that would expand the crack around a larger area, essentially stopping the crack unless the forces causing it are really that bad.  Never tried this on plastic, but I've done it with metal and the physics imply it should work on anything that isn't too brittle in the first place.

This was what I was going to suggest, with the addition that, if the xbox disc readers are so poor, you should probably place another hole opposite the first to balance out that tiny bit of weight lost.

[AllThingsLive]

This happened to me, so I tried super gluing the ring back together, but to no avail.

[jc6036]

Well, I think that I've figured out why the cracks were getting larger. Turns out, the heating/cooling problem created a tiny crack, and whenever I put the disc back into it's case, the crack expanded. You know that little triangular piece that I was worried about? I put the game into the case after a quick test to check heat and such, and the little piece popped right off! I just hope that the cracks dont spread to the part that the XBox reads, since the cracks are on the top layer of the disc, as opposed to the bottom protection layer. Lesson learned; when a little crack appears, use a CD sleeve. Problem (hopefully) solved for now. Another question, do you think that the little bit of weight difference from the piece missing will harm my disc drive on my XBox? Because I tried the disc again with the piece missing, and it still works fine.

[Stargrasper]

Personally, I'd err on the side of caution and stop using the disk.  I promise you that buying a new copy of the game costs less than repairing the potential damage to the console.

[jc6036]

Do you guys think that the lopsidedness of the weight of the disc will some how loosen the spinnie thingy in the xbox, thus breaking it? That's what I'm trying to figure out.

[Nivim]

 I'm not quite sure; it's not a problem I've ever had with normal disc drives, but the internet says there's a lot of anecdote for discs being ruined that way. Can you see the mechanism that rotates the disc? Does it look like it will keep the disc stable if it happens to wobble?

[shadenight123]

this is proof that keeping discs in the consoles is actually smarter and less costy than always being the "nice orderly boy" that puts things back in their place!
consoles are meant for disorderly people!!!
>.> XD
my ps2 kept the medal of honor (old one) inside for something like 4 years, after being shoved apart in a box. after four years it still went on.
moral: keep your discs in the consoles! it's better!

[Starver]

This is almost exactly what happens if you tilt an Xbox while it's reading a disc. (Minus botch, a word I don't know.)
There's something wrong with that, Microsoft.

Much as I'm loathed to paint Microsoft the victim, in this respect, it's the basic physics of gyroscopes that means that tilting rapidly spinning things means at least stresses in the item concerned and possibly contact with the housing.

Of course, the optical drives are usually made to withstand a degree of these kinds of forces (or at least buffer the spindle orientation sufficiently in line with the case as much as required, and the rest is relying on the CD not being so flexible as to wander too far out of concentricity, for the given RPMs it has) but, except perhaps in laptops, you generally aren't expected to pivot the case in normal use.  (I do, probably more than average and certainly more than is helpful, when I need to check the stickers on the underside of machines I've currently booted up on a CD or similar.  If I get the grinding noise I generally hold off and continue the operation in a slower manner, knowing that I've probably just scoured the rim of the disc but usually not done any more harm to it than the occasional careless in/out/put-on-the-desk cycle does w.r.t. significant and visible surface damage...  Eventually it could be the undoing of the disc, but most are inoperable/lost/forgotten-to-be-ejected long before such roughhousing becomes critical.)

Disc surface damage, while spinning, might be from the lens-head making undue contact (I've got a dismantled optical drive sitting over on the other side of my living room, and it looks like there's been some care to make it smooth-edged at the points it might possibly impact, although I'm not sure if that's more than a fop to the issue[1]) or, in the midst of repair situations, accidentally pressing down on the optical drive's casing while it is spinning can make an interesting (and 'expensive sounding', if the discs were worth a damn) grinding noise.  Which is probably why a lot of optical drives have a prominent "do not press here!" warning or similar on their top-side, especially laptop-drives which don't have anything like as much tolerance and are more likely to be seen outside of their normal host machines.


Sorry, too much technobable, I'm sure.  I was originally going to say that if there are viable objections to adding reinforcing glue to the crack-area, due to weight distribution, you should also be careful with the hole-drilling procedure.  Perhaps make sure that any holes you drill are partnered with a (fairly well) equidistant opposing 'repair' hole located on the other side of the spindle-hole, because removing weight from one side is as bad as adding it.  There's always the possibility of drilling the hole and then in-filling it with your glue/resin (ensuring that it sits in flush to the original surface[2]) which should go some way to offsetting the difference in mass-density in the spot.

I'd perhaps not bother, for now, but then I'm not in your position and thus don't have any particular anxiousness about using the disc as is, but do have some anxiousness that you not prematurely ruin your disc (or drive!) through following my/our advice. 



[1] HDD magnetic in/out heads usually ride across the platters on little cushions that don't (until some damage/contamination gets onto it, of course) cause any issue with the platter's perpetually clean and absolutely smooth surface, and I've had HDDs work even after their covers are removed and all kinds of non-scratchy abuse applied directly to the platter-surface (e.g. drawing spirals on them with a dry-wipe pen, while they're spinning and tracking) but for removable media of any speed you often need to counteract the various vagaries of the environment by maintaining a workable air-gap.  The optical head that I mentioned also has some small metal coils (partnered with either a magnet or some counterpart coils) and some springy-play, almost certainly for groove-tracking and focus-distance adjustments necessary during operation, but should keep the head off the surface as long as not subjected to too many external and inertial forces.  Different makes may have a different setup and/or resilience, naturally.

[2] I'd: Put a blob in the centre, not peeping out either side.  While still tacky, fill to the top and wipe flush to the surface, trying not to leave a 'flood' over on the surface. Wait a short time and turn over (not letting the flush part touch your worktop) and repeat the 'flushing' on the underside.  Turn over again after another short time to ensure it's still flush, adjust as necessary.  ...This all depends on the size of the drill-hole and the filler/application method used, and I've got to make the disclaimer that I've never done this with an optical disc, but instead in a not too dissimilar process used on something else so this might well still translate well.  If you ever notice the "plug" dissappears from the disc, however, you may have to gamble about whether this is rattling around inside your drive, or fell out during standard de-/en-boxing operations, but certainly know that you didn't use the right material to plug the gap and withstand the disc's routine of use.  Air-bubbles between initial filler and flush-fills are undesirable, and perhaps the cause of losing part of the plug, but may not be fatally so.

[jc6036]

I'm not so worried about the disc being harmed, even to the point of unplayability (since now that it's cracked, it's going to break eventally anyways), but i'm worried about damage to the disc drive. From what I can pick up from your tech-centric post, the irregular spinning likely won't harm the machine, but ruin the disc. . . .you know, I might just play it safe and get another copy to replace it, since one can usually find them cheap now-a-days.

[Lectorog]

I've had a small bit missing from my Halo3MP disc for a while, and it hasn't caused any problems. It certainly wouldn't hurt to replace your game, though.

And Starver... I was actually making the point that Microsoft made a console that was made to be placed in one direction or the other; but if you change directions, it will ruin your disc. The disc can even suffer damage if it's not being read at the time.
This hasn't been a problem for me; I have enough sense to not flip the console while it has something in it. A lot of people have ruined discs this way, which is what I was blaming Microsoft for. I'm pretty sure the console doesn't have any warning of that. (If it does, it's in the safety manual, which no-one reads.)

[jc6036]

I was worried about long term damage, actually. I figure that the little piece will unbalance it, causing it to wobble, which may harm the spinner thingie in the disc drive by loosening it up or some such, or pulling it off center. The question now is whether or not the little tiny piece that came off will have much of an effect on the spinning of said disc. I will probably test it, since it will make strange sounds if it is too lopsided. Also, I found cracks in many of my discs, but only the ones with the redesigned disc retainer. They have all been moved to CD sleeves.