Diode Resiliency

Just a quick question. I recently harvested a diode from an old DVD burner I had laying around and was de-soldering the little plastic circuit board on the back of the diode. I'm an inexperienced solderer and just wanted to know if i could have burned it out or how to check without wrecking the diode. Thanks...


Chad.

P.S. - How might i check which one is the infrared diode and which one is the laser diode.

They will take a lot of heat, but it is best to heatsink the diode before removing the mylar.

The way I check is with one AA battery. Hook it up to both and the one that glows like an LED will be the correct one. Do not look directly into the diode when you do this. It will be obvious which one is the red.