Hi,
I've read about user errors being the main cause of scratched discs and I'm wondering if I've committed one. I was playing Orange Box when the 360 froze at a loading screen. I reset the console by hitting the power button and immediately pressed the eject button on the drive (I figured I'd play something else for a while). This caused the tray to eject with the disc still spinning, creating a huge circular scratch that rendered two chapters of Half Life 2 unplayable. This has happened once before, but it didn't create a scratch the first time.

Is there a way to prevent this (other than not ejecting right after resetting the console)?

If your warranty's voided I would mess around with with my disk drive and make sure everythings in place. Try placing your console horizontal if its veridical.

Unfortunately the console has 10 months of warranty left. I did have the console standing upright the first time it lightly scratched a disc, the second time (where it actually damaged the disc) it was on it's side. (I suppose upright might be a better position in case this happens again. )