Recommended service for DVD/GameCube disk repair?

December 21, 2007 9:19 PM

Can anyone recommend a good mail-in service that will repair/resurface DVDs or Game Cube disks?

Over the past couple of years MeFi has helped me choose a system, find good titles for my daughter, and get my kids to dance. Now as I am cleaning up stuff around the house I find that I have 16 or so Nintendo GameCube disks that no longer work. I have tried the home fix-it systems, and tried toothpaste, and Pledge, and Brasso. No such luck.

I have looked online and found some places that will resurface for a reasonable price ($4-6/disk), but it is hard to tell if it is just a guy in a garage who will run it through his home fix it system, or his toothbrush, dustmop, or Brasso applicator thing.

Can anyone recommend a service that they had good experience with? Thanks much!

posted by cgk to technology (7 comments total)

You haven't tried the most obvious (and best working) remedy yet. Car polishing compound. Works brilliantly for just such a task.

Failing that, find a local CD/DVD/Video Game used/exchange store. They almost always have a buffing wheel in the back to polish out the scratches. They also use (surprise!) polishing compound.
posted by sanka at 9:35 PM on December 21, 2007

If you can't find a remedy for the games, you might be able to find some of them pretty cheap used.
posted by Mikey-San at 10:13 PM on December 21, 2007

Take it to your local gamers, gamestop, non big name chain store. and they will most likely have a tool to help polish them.
posted by DJWeezy at 10:18 PM on December 21, 2007

Game Crazy does this at their stores. You may want to call first to verify.
posted by MegoSteve at 5:52 AM on December 22, 2007

See if you can pick any of them up for cheap on ebay.
posted by itheearl at 7:54 AM on December 22, 2007

Digital Innovations is the company that makes a product called SkipDr. I've had one of these things since the late 90's, before they were sold in stores. I have been able to repair discs otherwise thought to be scrap. A GameCube game should resurface similar to a CD/DVD, since it's just a small disc in a similar material, but I'd check with them first. It's definitely a good investment.

The SkipDr, GameDr, dvdDr, are all the same product just with different marketing scopes.
posted by jeversol at 6:54 PM on December 22, 2007

OK, here is my followup. Having tried a bunch of home remedies I found the local Game Crazy shop (half of a Hollywood video store, less than a mile from where I work but I have never been there). The guy there took the 10 Game Cube disks (which had been cured by neither Pledge nor Brasso) and did his thing to them while I got a haircut. Final result: my kids were able to play 5 of the 10 disks that I was about to toss out. The cost is $2 per disk, but he sold me two $5 disk service cards (good for 5 disks each) so it worked out to $1 per disk.

I am marking MegoSteve as a best answer because already trying GameDr and all of the MacGyver home chemical remedies, getting it done by a teenager who does this a lot is worth the $1 roll of the dice. Thanks everyone. The five games my kids have been playing all night were headed for the trash before I remembered that I never make a game console decision without consulting The Green.
posted by cgk at 7:22 PM on December 22, 2007