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Easy Fix for Scratched CDs
NotQuiteOnto writes "Ben Hayes (om3ga) has performed an experiment as to the best method to fix scratched CDs. He set himself the criteria that it can't take longer that 5 minutes and it has to be something in his house. The result isn't what you'd think ..." Luckily, he stopped before "peanut butter."
I tried a similar experiment but instead I used CDs that did play Kings of Leon to see if I could get them to stop.
I tried putting them in the microwave, throwing them across the room, smashing them with my head, and then eating them.
It worked! I never had to listen to the Kings of Leon again...
--
"A man is asked if he is wise or not. He replies that he is otherwise" ~Mao Zedong
Capitalism: When it uses the carrot, it's called democracy. When it uses the stick, it's called fascism.
Just try using Pledge. I actually did this with scratches on my glasses (the lenses are plastic) and it works pretty well. Note: you'll probably have to do it again in the future, as I'm not sure how long it will last on the CD.
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
But does it work for CD recordings of old vynil records?
Argh.
Understatement of the century.
War isn't about who's right. It's about who's left.
Wow, that is SO not what I thought the answer was!
Aladrin Cache for those who missed it:
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Site has cpu quota issues... here's the cache.
w ww.om3ga.co.uk/2006/07/27/scratched-cds-no-problem /+&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1&lr=lang_en
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:WiSKiTXvp74J:
MidnightBSD: The BSD for Everyone
1. Wash the CD with hand soap and water
2. Dry it off
3. Put a little chapstick on the tip of your finger, rub it gently in a circular motion on the surface of the CD where the scratch is
4. Wash again with hand soap and water
This seemed to work pretty well for small scratches.
Wow, that site got owned in less time than it takes to repair a CD!
The site appears to be down? After visiting this website I've stuck to Brasso (and it really works great):
/ scratchrepair.htm
http://www.burningissues.net/how_to/scratchrepair
Scratched CDs? No Problem!
Published July 27th, 2006 in Main
We've all been there, bought a preowned game, put it excitedly into the console, then shouted "OMFGz0rWTF!?!?" as the console wouldn't recognise the game. Or perhaps you have a CD which contains important data, and M$ Windoze gives you a "Cyclic Redundancy Check" error (fancy way of saying 'Your disc is bloody SCRATCHED').
Whatever your problem is, it's caused by the same thing: A scratch. A scratched CD or DVD is just annoying!
So I took it upon myself to perform an experiment, to determine the very best way of dealing with a scratched disc. The limit I set myself, though, was that whatever I did it with must be somewhere in my house, and can't take longer than 5 minutes, including waiting time for things to dry, etc.
I thought of three main ways to cope with scratches:
1. Use an oily substance, or a gel, to fill in the scratch so that the laser goes straight through. This is the easiest option of the three.
2. Use a mild abrasive to round the edges of the scratches so that the laser doesn't get scattered as much. This is probably the most feasible option of the three.
3. Somehow take off a thin layer of plastic, removing the scratches altogether. This is the hardest, and probably impossible in 5 minutes with household items.
How a CD works:
I burnt 5 CDs with 6 songs on them:
* Kings of Leon - Razz
* Kings of Leon - Soft
* The Libertines - What Katie Did
* Kings of Leon - The Bucket
* Kings of Leon - Velvet Snow
* Kings of Leon - Taper Jean Girl
I then proceeded to scratch a few of the CDs with a pair of scissors, nothing deep, just enough to make the XBox in which I was playing them get annoyed.
The first thing I tried was plain old water, I know, sounds stupid... But the day before, I bought a game, which was scratched (not dirty, scratched). The first thing I tried was water, which I rubbed in gently, so that it stayed in the scratches, it then worked perfectly.
Next I had to rub it. The only way to rub something off a CD, is with a lint free cloth, going out in spokes from the centre.
Ok, so that didn't work too well on my test discs... Next up was, deodorant. I decided to use this, because it contained something oily (isopropyl myristate) which was dissolved in something volatile (denatured alcohol, propane, butane, isobutane, basically loads of hydrocarbons). So when I sprayed it on, I was hoping for the alcohols to evaporate while the isopropyl myristate separated into isopropyl and myristic acid to become oily and viscous, and stay in the cracks.
I rubbed it in gently, just to get it into the cracks, but not to remove it, and then let it sit for two minutes. It evaporated, and when held against the light, the "rainbows" got scattered less. It looked hopeful. But it didn't work.
Ok, next up is something I use to clean the fretboard on my guitar, Lem-oil. It's viscous and oily, and smells of lemon. I sprayed it on and this time had to rub slightly more vigourously, as it wasn't volatile enough to fit in with my 5 minute limit.
I rubbed it in, and it sort of worked. The XBox loaded the CD, and played it, but it was really crackly and noisy. So it kind of worked, but Caleb sounded pissed off and sort of like a monster.
Next I tried the method that a lot of people talk about: the toothpaste method. Toothpaste is a mild abrasive, and using it you should be able to round off the edges on the scratches. This method looked like it would work if I carried on, as the light was getting less scattered by the scratches, but I set myself a strict 5 minute time limit. To apply the toothpaste take the tiniest bit on the tip of your finger, and without touching the CD with your finger its self, apply
I found WD-40 and 2-26 Electrolube works well with scratched DVD's, CD's.
Lasts a few hours but long enough to recover the ISO or data.
Can't see the web site, so don't know what they did.
I've been using olive oil successfully for years. Pour a smal drop on and wipe over the surface with a lint free cloth. Recommend not reading the CD in your best drive though (although I have had no trouble)
Open Source Drum Kit, LPLC deve board - mjhdesigns.com
Not only was it Slashdotted, but it was pulled for exceeding its CPU, not bandwidth, quota. Hopefully this will teach people not to use PHP for static content...
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It was semi-diluted hair gel in a thin coat on the disk..
That said, how is this any better than the scratched disk in the first place? Sure it might play once, but now you have bloody hair gel on your disk! that's even stickier and more fragile than the cheap plastic they used to make the disk.
I like my solution better:
download what was on the disk from somewhere else.
Q: isn't that piracy?
A: Does it really matter? they sold it to you on crappy cheap plastic.. it should be fair use to "repress" the cd/dvd you bought.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
Hair Gel.. Whoda thunk it?
"I like the smell of my hair treatment; the pleasing odor is half the point."
"He's lost in a 'floyd hole"
Since the site seems to be down, I'll give everyone a small teaser from the final paragraph: I rubbed it first.
Betcha can't guess what it is...Keep in mind his original criteria...
This guy's the limit!
here
Foot note to add.
Yeah, our server is now on fire. But don't worry, the local fire department has been called.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
12345
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I used to work at PRS Guitars so I had access to 1000 - 2500 grit sandpaper (available at any auto store). Worked great! Just do a wet sanding with that stuff and you sand through the big scratches leaving very tiny scratches that don't give the laser any trouble. I would polish it with with some scratch removing car wax though the big rotary buffers at PRS worked much much better. I may have to try the hair gel for the polish next time though.
After years of use, most vinyl records develop a single deep scratch that spirals from the outside towards the center. I find that rubber cement can fix it pretty easily. I did this to some of my old records a couple years ago and they sound much better now.
Badass Resumes
I put a little KY Jelly on the disk before I insert it into the slot. The CD player seems to whirr with joy!
You know, I wonder how many of his readers have really shouted "OMFGz0rWTF!?!?"... I mean, how do you even say that? Where do you even start?
Michael Coyne
http://turthalion.blogspot.com
4 out of 5 dentists reccomend it.
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
Wax the surface of the disc - a decent carnauba car wax works fine. This fills in a lot of the minute surface scratches. It's improved the playability a lot of discs I had that were badly scratched.
...also works on CDs. Turns out the refractive index of nose grease (i.e. wipe your finger down the OUTSIDE of your nose!) is approximately the same as celluloid. Hence wiping it on scratches on negatives makes them disappear. Also kind of works on CDs - same refractive index means less refraction from the scratch...
http://mirrordot.com/stories/14b7a5a68c2b653db431b eae72d1d8c7/index.html
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About the only thing I use a CD for is Oblivion, Halo, and FEAR. ID Software has been kind enough to no longer require a CD be inserted just to play a game that is already on my hard disk. Half Life 2, of couse, has Steam.
The premise of the article raises two questions:
1. What the hell do people need CDs for?
2. How in hell do these CDs get scratched? It's not a long distance from the CD tray to the jewel case.
I work (and live) at a military style academy. And seeing as we have to shine everything from buckles to brass railings, there seems to be a odd facination with Brasso here. Someone tried it on a cd and it works! Just put a bit on and shine it up. Whipe it off when you're done.
Man is the lowest-cost, 150-pound, nonlinear, all-purpose computer system which can be mass-produced by unskilled labor.
4 out of 5 dentists reccomend it.
WTF is UP with that 5th dentist????
Why yes, I *AM* new here. Why?
Wax? Pledge? Toothpaste? Buffing?
Y'all are a bunch of workaholics.
Just lightly wave a propane or butane torch over the scratches.
It works for all polycarbonates, including CDs, DVDs, helmet visors, motorcycle windshields, airplane windshields, cellphone screens.
The trick is to wave the flame over it so very very lightly and quickly, that the rough edges of the scratch briefly melt and flow.
FATMOUSE + YOU = FATMOUSE
"Oh em eff gee-zors double-you tee eff!"
Yeah, it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it?
fixing the scratches on my anime hentai cd collection is my job you insensitive clod!
disclaimer: I've been known to store numbers in my ass for which to dig out when quantities are required.
Find it in the hardware store or Target.
Use a cloth, apply Brasso in a circular motion, let dry. Wipe Brasso off with same cloth, using a decent amount of force. Brasso is a really good mildly abrasive polishing compound, and enough applications will erase any scratch.
Cleaned my whole CD collection this way.
If moderation could change anything, it would be illegal.
insert inflammatory anti-microsoft comment here
Coincidentally there's a recent "How To" on how to fix a scratched CD
at http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-a-Scratched-CD
The nearly last ditch effort is to use vaseline (a lot like hair gel).
However, it's not a long lasting solution. Just long enough to burn a new CD.
I hate sigs (especially yours which is a waste of my bandwidth)
logically a minor scratch on a next gen format will mean more comprimised data. just another reason to say NO to hd-dvd and blu-ray, as if we didnt already know enough to stay away from them.
When I worked there, back in 2001, the thing that was severely slipping was the paint job. My supervisors were messing with the paint mixtures trying to get it to dry quicker and applying the next coat of paint before the previous coat dried which made the paint fragile resulting in more frequent burns (sanding through the paint down to the bare wood). My supervisors were also letting these burns pass through and allow the guitar to be sold which is why I left. I was told not long after I left that these two jokers were fired when Paul Reed Smith and Dupont (their paint supplier) got wind of this. If anything else has gone downhill quality-wise since then, I don't know much about it but in my opinion they are slowly becoming another fender. In my opinion, if you want a high end guitar, go to a custom shop like Fodera (semi biased suggestion since I just purchased a bass from them). They are known for their basses but they do make guitars (though not advertised on the website because of the high demand for basses) and love to make them. There are other custom shops and I'm sure their prices are the same price as a PRS but you'll get that custom fit that comes with going with the small business who hasn't given in to mass production. Again just my opinion.
I thought only lpd could catch fire...
(yes I know it's an old and obscure reference and it probably has been removed by now. Puzzled me to no end the first time I saw it though)
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
Run to your local autoparts store, look in the car wax section for Meguiars Plastic Polish. Works like a charm.
ive never tried all these, but toothpaste works for sure! ive recovered around 4 cd's that way.
See if you can find references to the old SunOS 4.1.3 man page for "reboot".
I talk about stuff.
Wife and I were watching _Prozac Nation_ last night, when about half way through it became unwatchable. We called the grocery store we had rented at, but that was their only copy. Next we tried two blockbusters nearby, but neither carried it. Since it was our last resort, I decided to try the toothpaste trick.
What I did was apply a small glob of toothpaste, and just enough water to make it workable. Then using a clean cloth I polished the disk with the paste moving in small circular motions. I had tried this half-assed before, and not gotten good results, so I decided to really go for it this time. I think I applied paste 3 times, and each time rubbed for about 2-3 minutes, before rinsing off. Finally I rinsed well, cleaned with a cloth, and then did one final rinse and wipe.
At the end of this you could tell that the scratches didn't look as deep as when I had started. We put it back in the DVD player, and the movie played 100% perfect, no problems at all. I was amazed.
I think maybe a solution that also incorporated something to fill in the scratches might be even better. Has anyone used any of those special purpose scratch repair solutions that they sell at gaming and office supply stores?
Computers don't make mistakes. What they do, they do on purpose.
I have polished many library CDs (if you want to test your method just take some of these babies out of the library and you can see what abuse really means) with brasso and it works great. I have never tried any of the filling methods. This is what I do:
-Shake the Brasso well.
-Wet the tip of a soft cloth with some.
-Place the CD on a hard, smooth, flat surface (bottom up of course).
-Tackle any deep, circumferential scratches first with a hard polish along the scratch.
-If the CD is bad all over do swirls/orbital polishing all around. Hard at first and then softer.
-Let it dry.
-With clean areas of the the cloth progressively buff around the CD in light swirls.
-Finish off with some radial buffing.
-Clean with some IPA if required (a good first step if the is just oily crud on it).
-Enjoy.
Hair gel? WTF, mate? I dont use crazy oily products on my head. Here is a wikiHow on cleaning CDs: http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-a-Scratched-CD
Take a lesson from the cleaning industry - Pledge is NOT a good solution for CDs due to the residue that's leftover and begins to cloud on the CD's surface. If you want to repair scratches, you're far better off using good old Turtle Wax. Two good coats will repair most surface scratches and it doesn't require nearly as many re-applications as pledge would, plus it's lots cheaper on your budget than buying a bunch of pledge, since a little wax goes a loooong way.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
I knocked my PS2 over while there was a game in it, spinning, and it fell a good 3 feet, gouging the DVD when it hit the floor. Rebooted, and the game wouldn't start. Tried toothpaste, and the disc got a little better (the intro music started playing again). Tried some more toothpaste, and it got worse (intro music stopped again).
Then, I went to the local gamestop and bought one of those "Disk Doctor" (Same concept as this model: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000J4PD ) things, that has a grinding disk that's supposed to evenly grind down the outer surface of the disk, leveling it out to below the level of the scratch(es). I'm usually skeptical about that sort of thing, but there were some glowing reviews online.
It worked perfectly. I was stunned. I guess the fact it worked *after* having beat the hell out of it with toothpaste is even more impressive.
Just remember, as with any treatment, rub straight out from the center, at a right angle to the tracks, and never around the disc in a circular motion.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.