can you fix a pretty badly scrathced CD? how?

Question

a formula or something? Or probably something else?

Answer 1

It depends on what you mean by "badly". If it has a lot of fine scratches that don't go too deep, you can probably fix it. The standard DVD cleaners won't do it, but you can get plastic polishing compound at a plastics store, and that could fix it. If the scratches are on the label side, they probably cannot be fixed. If the scratches on the clear side are very deep, they are also probably not reparable

Answer 2

Ok, first things first... how badly scratched? Hold the CD up to a light. Can you see light coming through it. If so, you're screwed. If not then it's repairable.
Assuming that it can be repaired, get yourself the following items:
Brasso (or someother metal polish)
Toothpaste
Vaseline
Some lint free clothes

Now put the brasso onto a lint free cloth. Rub the brasso into the cd with circular motions. When the CD is covered, wipe away with a clean cloth with straight line motions from the centre to the outside of the CD.
Now do the same as you have just done, but with toothpaste.
Once this is done, you'll have a shiny CD which will smell of mint. Now rub in some vaseline, which will smooth over any fine scratches that you've made whilst taking out the large ones. rub that off with another lint free cloth, and hey presto, you'll have a CD that should work.
If it doesnt work try again. Seriously, this method works. I've repaired loads of CD's this way.
If it doesn't work, try ripping the CD. You'll hear some clicking noises when you play where the scratches were, but atleast it wont skip.
Hope this helps.

Answer 3

There are some repair kits on the market that use either abrasives or chemical softeners to remove scratches. I paid about $15 for one kit a while back which was essentially 3 tiny sheets of micro-grit sandpaper. I did use it a few times to recover data on scratched CD’s and it worked pretty good for light scratches.

So I came across a badly scratched CD the other day that my PC could not read and I couldn’t find my little repair kit. I started thinking of what I might be able to use instead. I needed something lightly abrasive but not too abrasive. I found what I was looking for in a cleaning product called “Old Dutch” Cleansing powder. Similar to “Comet”.

I took a paper towel, put some powder on it and some tap water and started rubbing the CD surface. I got the same affect as my repair kit. The powder devolves in water so the more water you use the finer grit you end up with. You need to rub straight up and down line from the inside to the outside edge, never circular. I was able to recover all the data from My CD and make a new burn. and it was much easier and faster that my repair kit would have been.
Car polish works just as well if not better because it actually has the oils (or silicone, depending on what you use) to bring back the luster of the discs surface.


Other people have also mentioned toothpaste. I have not tried it but I hear it has worked on other things that are very similar to cd disc matierial.

Yeah i never use swirl rotations to buff my discs. Just go up and down like stated above.

As for the type of polish. Just use a finishing type. Anything that you would finish off using on your car should work fine with your discs.

As for the difference in my method, I use an electric orbital car buffer with the fluffy buffing pad. I do not recommend the terry cloth buffer pad as it leaves the little circular buff scratches. These pads can be bought at any store which sells orbital sanders. In my case, I bought mine from Sears. Some Big Lot stores carry them for right around $10 (buffer) and $5-$10 (pads) depending on the quanity in the package. If I remeber correctly, it was $5 for one and $10 for three. I use Turtle Wax but just about any polish will work.
The buffer does go in circles however instead of from side to side as previously mentioned. It still works perfectly and because it has the fast rotating motion, does extremely well even for some of those deeper scratches. Just a small dab of polish/toothpaste is all you need. As it spins, it creats a small amount of friction heat and buffs the surface to a new like finish. Depending on how deep the scratches are will determine how long to apply it to the buffer. Just check it periodically.
When buffing, place the buffer upside down so the pad is upright. Then gently with a firm grip, hold the shiny cd/dvd surface to the pad. You may have to rotate occassionally if the scratches are covering the entire disk.
That pretty much covers my tutorial on removing scratches.
Happy gaming and may you never have a problem in regard to scratches ever again.

Answer 4

If fixing it doesn't work its worth trying to copy it using a computer system. The best way is to use a DVD Writer the reason for this is the laser is finer so it 'sometimes' can read disks even if a normal cd drive or cd writer can't. It does vary some from one dvd writer to another so if you have more than one play around with different drives. If you find one that works rip off the music and burn a fresh copy.

Answer 5

Used CD stores often have devices that clean CDs. The CD is placed on an arm and held over a spinning sandpaper pad (special sandpaper). Chemicals are used to assist in the cleaning process.

If properly used, even really, really damaged CDs can be fixed. The machine costs a lot of money, probably $1000 or more (I'm only guessing), and you need to be trained in order to use it.

As I said, stores that sell used CDs probably have one.

Answer 6

Those CD fixing machines don't fix badly scratched CDs! They fix light scratches.
It depends how deep the grooves are. If they're not that deep or you have a lot of them, use a pencil eraser and lightly rub the grooves to fill them in.
If they're deep, try using toothpaste (regular toothpaste-never use tartar control/whitening toothpaste as you might damage the CD even further!). Use a small amount, rub it into the grooves, and buff.

Good luck!

Answer 7

My kids have a special talent for ruining cd's or dvd's. We've tried various home products and remedies (my father-in-law insists that if you lightly rub toothpaste, the past kind not the gel kind, on it, it will be fixed), but what works best has always been to take your messed up disc up to Blockbusters. Because of the nature of their business, they have a really good machine to fix dvd's so they can be rented out again.

Most of the ones i've been to charge like a dollar fee. If it doesn't work (happened one time), they don't charge you.

Answer 8

My friend, "a badly scratched CD / DVD disc" can not be fixed. Any product that says it can, you should only pay for after proof of said fix, (DO NOT BUY THEIR GUARANTEE) Once the laser in your device, (high or low priced), can no longer read the information on the affected disc, then it is good bye disc.
However, you should always check a different device to clarify the fault, is it "disc - or - player".
I hope that this has helped you. You may find more info at http://bakerstv.com
Hope I have helped.

Answer 9

Yeah no special possions tonics or any other rubbish just a plain old tin of brasso and a soft cloth, use the brasso wadding and in circular motion press quite hard covering the whole of the CD for about 3 mins MAKE SURE YOU PLACE THE DISK ON TO A HARD SURFACE or you will crack the disk and then polish off with the soft cloth I hope this works for you.

Answer 10

You can fixed it. But you have to buy a special formula for CD scrathces.