Your favorite do-it-yourself scratched CD/DVD fixes?

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.

Really is no good at home methods. I bring them to the PC repair store down the street for resurfacing. 3 dollars a pop and it's like new. God do you remember how much that Game Doctor thing they sold back in the day fucked up disc even worse?

GutsDozer said:

God do you remember how much that Game Doctor thing they sold back in the day fucked up disc even worse?

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Holy shit, that thing was the fucking WORST.

The discs would come out worse than before.

FilthyRear said:

Holy shit, that thing was the fucking WORST.

The discs would come out worse than before.

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Yeah it was terrible.

Toothpaste or Meguiar's "PlastX" polish. If a game is worth saving though, I'll pay the $2-3 to have it professionally resurfaced.

Jeweler's rouge + plastic polish and a bench grinder with a buff fluffy buffing wheel.

There's some technique to it, but it produces fantastic results. I've fixed dozens of discs this way.

If the disc is particularly scratched, I'll start it off with some Brasso and a microfiber cloth to buff out the large scratches, then move to the rouge to buff out the new scratches I made, then polish it up with a good plastic polish like Meguiar's PlastX, or a combination of #10 and #17.

it requires a light touch though, and you have to keep the disc moving. Definitely not for everyone. Practice on a useless disc first.