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I have found a pinhole in some of my discs, from Xbox 360 to Wii U to PS4 games, they are visible from the label side and the reflective side.

The strange thing is that the last 2 games that I have beat (Mario 3D World and Bloodborne) have them, and I haven't noticed anything during the gameplay.

Can it get worse, to a point that makes them unreadable, or is it just a myth?

Some photos of strange cases; can anyone confirm if they have disc rot or early signs?

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  • Could you post a picture of them? May 17, 2021 at 12:35
  • I edited the post, sorry for the inconvenience May 17, 2021 at 18:40
  • If you see this, would it be possible to post your images to imgur? Sep 5, 2021 at 20:15

2 Answers 2

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I don't believe that is "rot" like that, unless you live in a zone with extreme temperatures. Those little holes are more like some impacts or damage on the top of the disk, (not the reflective side). De-lamination sounds more accurate.

But depending where is the damage it may not have any consequence on your disks:

As example: your "Mass Effect 2" or your "Horizon Zero Dawn" will be fine as the damage is in the internal part of the disk and the laser didn't read that section.

Your "Bayonetta Wii U" it's a different story... As you can see the hole is in the writable sector of the disk, so when the laser passes for that hole It will find no data written, only the acrylic.

In the last case you may start the game and get some progress, but at some point the game will freeze or crash as there is some "lost code" in that hole.

Even though the life cycle of any disk is not eternal, it could be up to 15 years or more if you take care of them. The recommendation for that is to store your disks always on the case, free of dust, never clean it with any aggressive cleaner, and keep it in a fresh and dry zone.

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  • The problem with Mass Effect 2 and Horizon is if could get bigger and make them unplayable, but i think that it's just some excess of lacquer/glue applied between discs... about "pinholes" i think that is "label rot", not damage, just the label upside the disc removed in a point, due to the internal reader or from factory, because y just wipe it in radial with a microfiber cloth, it's doesn't drop it or something like that May 17, 2021 at 18:41
  • It could be "label rot" you are right, depending on the composition of the label and other external threats. In any case, the bad news is that this affects the integrity of the data and your game. And going back to your original answer, Yes it can become worst, that depends on how you take care of your disks.
    – Pepe T.
    May 17, 2021 at 19:06
  • Well is a very little dot, and as far as i know, the discs are not 100% opace in the reflective side, and use UV/IR light to read, so it may depend if damage the layers or not, are a Wii U disc (Panasonic especific format) and Bluray, in CDs could be worst this. Which are the "taking care of your disks" tips? May 17, 2021 at 19:16
  • As mentioned in my original answer: Even though the life cycle of any disk is not eternal, it could be up to 15 years or more if you take care of them. The recommendation for that is to store your disks always on the case, free of dust, never clean it with any aggressive cleaner, and keep it in a fresh and dry zone. A very little tiny dot can mean hundreds of code lost. You can have the luck that according how you do your progress in the game you may not touch of don't need that lost data (maybe an alternative ending, or hidden paths, etc...) But somehow that affects the game, Sorry Pal.
    – Pepe T.
    May 17, 2021 at 19:20
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It could be, as Wikipedia states:

On CDs, the rot becomes visually noticeable in two ways:
When the CD is held up to a strong light, light shines through several pin-prick-sized holes.
Discoloration of the disc, which looks like a coffee stain on the disc. See also CD bronzing.

Anyway, it's not always a sign of aluminium corrosion, according to this thread:

Pinholes were there as they left the manufacturing plant. They don't appear later.

So it could be just something production-related, this was true for most early 90's CDs:

The electo-plating wasn't very consistent in the production methods of the early 90's, so it was actually possible to purchase a brand new CD/CD-ROM and find pin-holes visible through the metallic layer where the disc authoring/"printing" laser literally vaporized parts of the metallic layer during production, which of course meant there was no data where those pinholes were for your CD player/PC/game system to be able to read

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    It's hard to say, also because your images have all broken links
    – pinckerman
    Sep 5, 2021 at 11:17

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