Comments on: Best way to repair scratched CDs?

Question: Best way to repair scratched CDs?

deeman — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 21:30:17 -0800

What's the best way to repair really scratched CDs and DVDs? There are so many products out there. Which one works the best in your opinion?

By: Zed_Lopez

Zed_Lopez — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 22:17:20 -0800

I'd take a shot at ripping a CD with EAC as a first resort.

By: Brian James

Brian James — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 23:10:18 -0800

Brasso.

By: IvyMike

IvyMike — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 23:20:28 -0800

I've used the mostly-mechanical product SkipDr from DigitalInnovations and the mostly-abrasive product SoundBoni, which I think is no longer available, but is probably similar to using Brasso.

Both worked pretty well, provided that the scratches were on the plastic bottom of the CD. The SkipDr leaves a slight skuff-mark pattern on the CD that you can see if you hold the disk at the right angle; the SoundBoni did not. If the scratches are on the top of the CD, the information is likely GONE; if you can see that there's a hole in the metallic portion of the CD, you're probably out of luck.

I believe I've gotten disks from NetFlix that have the telltale SkipDR pattern on them.

By: adzm

adzm — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 00:05:50 -0800

For a cheap solution, I've had plenty of luck buffing with toothpaste and a non-abrasive, lint free cloth. YMMV.

By: Makebusy7

Makebusy7 — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 03:09:48 -0800

toothpaste

By: thewiseacre

thewiseacre — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 05:49:35 -0800

I've also used car wax and rubbing compound (the kind made for car finishes.) Those are probably more abrasive but they work.

By: justkevin

justkevin — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 06:04:37 -0800

Try rubbing a white candle over the scratches. A friend of mine showed me this trick on a skipping CD and it worked quite well. Don't know if this works better or worse than toothpaste.

By: inthe80s

inthe80s — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 07:44:42 -0800

Disc Repair Pro Kit I bought one of these when Memorex was selling them under their name. Works well, doesn't clean every disc, but generally takes care of my rentals from Netflix.

A really bad scratch on the bottom (not the top) can be taken out with any kind of rubbing abrasive if you're patient enough. Depends on how valuable the disc is, and how patient you are.

As someone else pointed out, if you can see daylight through it, that bit of data is gone.

By: tublecain

tublecain — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 08:30:51 -0800

for minorly scratched CDs I used to put them in the freezer overnight