- Joined
- Feb 10, 2003
- Posts
- 7,174
What's your preferred "home remedy" for fixing scratched CDs/DVDs? I use toothpaste. It's got to be the actual paste type (with a slightly granular texture); I don't think the gel ones work. You just squirt a little on the disc's scratches, and then repeatedly rub it across the disc (not back-and-forth), from the center, to the edges, to "sand" down the scratches. Rinse the paste off with water when you're done, dry the disc off with a soft, dry cloth (again, wiping from center to edges), and you're good to go. It's not a miracle cure--it probably won't save a really trashed disc, but for mild-moderate scratches, it works surprisingly well. I've also read about people using peanut butter or banana peels (the oil/wax from them supposedly fills the scratches), but I've never tried those fixes myself. I'm always really careful not to damage them myself, but I buy a lot of secondhand game/music discs, and those are often scratched.
I've only ever had one scratched disc professionally fixed. Years ago, I bought a copy of Vampire Hunter D for the Playstation, off of eBay, and, in the seller's listing, he said it was scratch-free. Well, when I got the game in the mail, it literally looked like he had taken a piece of sandpaper to the bottom of the disc--needless to say, he didn't get positive feedback. The game worked, but all of the voiced dialogue skipped like a drunken stutterer riding a pogo stick, so I took it down to one of the local video rental stores and paid $4 to have the clerk fix it, which she did (I think she used one of the CD grinder thingies), and all of the dialogue played back flawlessly afterwards.
I've only ever had one scratched disc professionally fixed. Years ago, I bought a copy of Vampire Hunter D for the Playstation, off of eBay, and, in the seller's listing, he said it was scratch-free. Well, when I got the game in the mail, it literally looked like he had taken a piece of sandpaper to the bottom of the disc--needless to say, he didn't get positive feedback. The game worked, but all of the voiced dialogue skipped like a drunken stutterer riding a pogo stick, so I took it down to one of the local video rental stores and paid $4 to have the clerk fix it, which she did (I think she used one of the CD grinder thingies), and all of the dialogue played back flawlessly afterwards.