how do i fix a really badly scratched cd?

Answer 1

Here ya go...

http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-a-Scratched-CD

Answer 2

There is a gadget that repairs CDs. It should be easy to find, although ironically- I don't remember a specific name. You put a CD in a bind, put fluid on top of it (a certain kind), then the CD is turned under a little wheel and the surface is smoothed out. Now, you have to rotate it fully, or one side of the disc will be lower than the other side, although this difference is nearly microscopic. Afterwards the CD will have many lines and it may seem damaged, but what happened was the surface (and all scratches) were made to the same level, and this should solve skipping. Oh, and if you buff the CD enough after, the lines disappear anyway.

Answer 3

Replicated CDs are mass-produced initially using a hydraulic press. Small granules of raw plastic are fed into the barrel while under heat and increasing amount of pressure melt the plastic and force the liquified material into the mold cavity. Equipped with a metal stamper the mold closes, allowing the plastic to cool and harden. Once opened, the disc substrate is removed from the mold by a robotic arm, and a 15 mm diameter center hole (called a stacking ring) is removed. This method produces the clear plastic blank part of the disc. After the foil layer is applied to the clear blank substrate the disc is ready to go to press. To press the CD first a Glass Master is cut using a high power laser on a device not dissimilar to a CD writer, the glass master being around 12 inches (30 cm) diameter and up to one inch (25 mm) thick as it needs to be strong for pressing. This glass master is a positive master. After testing it will then be used to make a die by pressing it against a metal disc. The die then becomes a negative image, a number of them can be made depending on the number of pressing mills that will be running off copies of the final CD. The die will then go into the press and press the image onto the foil layer of the blank CD leaving a final positive image on the disc. A small circle of varnish is then applied as a ring around the centre of the disc and a fast spin will evenly spread it over the surface. The disc will then be printed and packed. The method used to press an LP record is very similar except the molding of the plastic disc is a separate process with CDs.
So you see if the surface gets scarched Severely the the disk won't be able to read the image for the top.

Answer 4

A SIMPLE AND SAFE-TO-DO-AT-HOME REPAIR FOR SCRATCHED AND SCUFFED CDs

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When CDs first came out, there was a remarkable amount of sales hype about how indestructible they were. Those of us who work in radio stations soon found out! CDs are easily rendered unplayable by a small scuff or scratch to the playing surface. Fortunately, these minor abrasions can be easily fixed.

I'm making the distinction between scuffs and scratches because they interfere with the laser tracking and reading mechanism in two different ways:

* a scuff mark renders the surface of the polycarbonate milky, rather than clear. This diffuses the laser beam, making it impossible for the tracking mechanism to locate and focus on the pits which carry the sound and tracking information.

* a scratch which runs at an angle to the track usually poses no problem for the tracking mechanism. Indeed a well adjusted CD player should be able to track a disk on which a 1mm strip of black tape has been stuck - providing it is stuck on radially. But if a scratch is approximately tangential or circumferential, it can obscure the track below for enough time that the tracking or error correction cannot cope.
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Both scratches and scuffs can be removed by the same method - by polishing them out using Brasso(http://www.design-technology.org/brasso.htm).

Use the Brasso in the normal way. A drop or two is usually sufficient. Use a soft clean cloth to rub the affected area with the Brasso until the mark is almost gone. Polish scuff marks radially. Scratches are best handled by rubbing along the direction of the scratch. With a scratch it usually is not necessary to polish it completely away - just clean it up enough for the laser to be able to see through it.

Finish up by letting the Brasso dry on the surface, then use a fresh soft cloth to rub it off. Just for good form's sake, do this last stage radially. Remember radial scratches won't generally interfere with the tracking mechanism.

When trying to work out which scratch is to blame for a mis tracking, keep in mind that ones at an angle to the direction of rotation are not likely to cause problems. Also keep in mind that a CD plays from the inside out, so that a problem on an early track is more likely to be near the center than the edge.

So far I have not found a scratched or scuffed CD I cannot fix using Brasso. I hope it works for you too!

Answer 5

Turtle Wax gives it that "hard shell finish". Seriously...a few drops of a non-caustic automobile wax (don't use furniture wax or wax with built-in solvents or cleaners) can be buffed out like the peanut butter other respondents describe, but leaves a slightly more durable clear coat. This is not the final solution as many would prefer to replace the CD, but it can make it last a little longer and has been used with some success. Be sure to use a soft cloth.

Turtle wax "Polishing compound" will take the scratches off a smooth (non-grooved) surface such as a badly scratched watch crystal if you use a moistened soft cloth to apply it and buff it out.

Answer 6

some thoughts:
Breathe on the CD a bit (so you get the condensation on there) and then gently wipe radially (i.e. from the center to the edge) making your way around. DO NOT WIPE IN A CIRCLE OR AROUND THE DISC!!! Keep that habit up and you will end up with a scratched disc that will be very difficult to repair.

some common household abrasives: like toothpaste &, Brasso.(I would not recomend using gel toothpaste! The abbrasive in it is much coarser than in regular toothpaste.)
The testing-procedure was effectively to put these CD's on a record-player . . . . . . Car WAX, Car glass (windshield) silicon/teflon based spray coating well, not exactly: what we did was to use an adjustable scribe - an arm with a hardened needle sticking out a set distance [0.004"/0.1mm], & ran a scratch from just beyond the TOC all the way to the outside of the disk.

Of course you need to WAIT until the product has completely dried off, BEFORE polishing the CD with a cloth and insering it in the drive.

Answer 7

So many answers I doubt anyone will read this, but here is one tip that works well'

Permatex makes a kit to restore cloudy headlight lenses. It uses several different grades of sandpaper up to about a 2500 grit. On a whim, I polished one f the kid's playstaion games that had bad scratches. I wet sanded them with the 2000 grit, then up to the finest grit available, the polished out with the paste compound in the kit. I have since done quite a few CD"s and have had great success on all.

The CD/DVD is covered with a urethane finish about the thickness of paint on a car. It is a similar finish as a car. The CD info is read by laser (light) and the scratches cause shadows that can make it hard for the laser to read. Remove the scratches (if not too deep) and all will be well!

Answer 8

I'm not going to read all five pages, so someone may already have said this. First just try washing them. Sometimes even when they look bad, it's not a scratched problem, just a dirty one. If you're lucky that will do it. If not...

Use Brasso metal polish and a soft polishing cloth. Put a small amount of Brass on the cd and rub it in a straight line from the center to the outside edge. You don't have to rub really hard, but you do have to go at it for a little while. Keep a close eye on the CD surface and your cloth--if you pick up bits of dust or grit you're just going to rub that in and create new scratches.

If you can see obvious scratches, try working just on that scratch first, going in the direction of the scratch (yes, even if it means not working from the center to the outside edge). If it's generally messed up in one area but not one clear scratch, you can go in little circles to buff it. BUT once you've done this you need to go back and finish the radial pattern working from the center to the edge. ALWAYS finish in a radial pattern, and NEVER rub in a big circle like a needle going around a record.

After you've worked at it for a while clean it off with running water and some dish soap. Blot it dry (don't rub) and give it a try. If it works, great. If not, go over it again. Sometimes I have to go over them three times, but they always recover.

I have to do this regularly with CDs I get from the library. It's very effective, but to be honest it's a pain, and Brasso smells terrible. You definitely learn to take better care of your CDs after having to do this a few times.

It's good to practice on a junk CD before you try it on something you care about. BTW, I have tried toothpaste and only succeeded in totally screwing up the CD.

This only works if it's just a scratch in the plastic. There is not data on the plastic layer, so all you're doing is buffing out scratches so the laser can read cleanly. If there is a scratch or anything like that on the foil layer (label) you've actually lost data, and there's nothing you can do to fix that.

Oh, and a CD reads from the center to the outside edge. So if the last song is skipping, you know your problem area is somewhere near the outer edge, and you can focus your attention there.

Answer 9

When I first heard about the Wipe Out! CD Repair Kit, I was a little skeptical. But a pile of "not quite ready to throw out" music and computer CDs next to my desk made me decide to give it a whirl. I called Marc Guest at Esprit who explained to me: "When a Compact Disc gets scratched, most people think it is ruined forever. Nothing could be further from the truth. A scratch on the surface of the C.D. simply confuses the laser, and causes skipping, or the inability of the player to load the C.D. It does not damage the digital information stored below the surface of the plastic." This sounded good to me, and as they were willing to donate a kit for us to test, the only one taking a risk, I figured, was them.

My first patient was a Jerry Garcia music CD. Let's just say I'm listening to it now as I write this article, and it sounds "good as new." The spots that used to skip and/or jump on me no longer exist, and I'm thrilled at the reclaimed perfection of the sound. Esprit's Wipe Out! Disk Repair System is a polishing compound designed specifically for the C.D. plastic, which effectively interacts with the polymer, and allows you to polish the scratch out of your disc.

Now I take pretty good care of my CD's so I needed a real mess to fully test out this product. For my next patient, I searched in the top drawer where my daughter tends to throw unprotected discs and CD-ROM games. Ahh, there it was, the Scupper the Sailor Dog CD-ROM Game. I know for a fact this game has been useless for quite a while. I cleaned off what looked like jelly from the badly scratched up data side of this CD-ROM, and followed the "easy to follow instructions" included with the kit. Each Kit includes an instruction sheet, a polishing cloth, and has enough Repair Compound to fix between 60 and 80 CD's, CD-ROM's, or DVD's. Immediately, I could notice the difference in the look of the disc, but the real test was in trying to install the program from the newly repaired disc. I'm happy to say that this went flawlessly, and the product and my reclaimed CD game work like champs!

If you own a business, or work in the corporate world, you know that many high-end programs can run hundreds, even thousands of dollars. Here is a product that can really save you a lot of headaches. For the price, less than fifty cents per repair, this is a product no computer user should be without. Now, if they would just make a CD glue for all the scratched ones I flung against the wall...

Answer 10

Wet sand it with 2000 grit sandpaper. Toothpaste is basically doing the same thing but you have no control over the roughness and sometimes it can make it worse. Auto parts stores sell 2000 grit sandpaper which is used to polish clear coats and the like. Using a little water and 2000 grit sandpaper will allow you to take the scratches down without going too far or creating worse scratches. None of this by the way will work well on home burned CDs as they do not have the same protective coating as retail purchased CDs.

Answer 11

Too fix a really badly scratched cd you should use toothpaste, because the toothpaste fills in the scratches..It works on cds and dvds...I use toothpaste all the time to repair my scratched cds and dvds...for example: say that a cd or dvd skips due to scratches all you have to do is put toothpaste on the cd or dvd, smooth it all over it let sit for 5 seconds and rinse off throughly and dry really well with one of those clothes you use to dry glasses with after cleaning them...I hope this answer helps you out a lot...I know it does me....and saves me a lot of money, because you should always have toothpaste laying around...Just to let you know it does not matter the type of toothpaste used either...i have used all kinds...