Thread: Any way of removing scratches on CDs?

I used to use this disk cleaner thing, it's a circle thingy that spins, and it's got a sponge on it. The does the job if it is small scratches.

But, my dad has this thick stuff used on cars, and he used that on a really badly scratched CD, and it worked really well.

You can resurface CD's, it's what they do with trade-INS at gamestop and other such places. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is because the data is stored on the upper layers of the CD. I think you can buy a device that will do that, a while ago my friend had one called CD doctor (or sething to that affect).

I haven't tried this myself, but I saw it in my RSSes the other day: http://lifehacker.com/5510888/save-o...-with-vaseline

I have seen people fix CDs with toothpaste, Aquafresh to be more specific. There are probably tutorials online, but for CDs with important information I would find a professional.

My old roommate used to hawk a loogie on Alpha Centauri and smear it around a bit to get it to play

Some gamestores offer a resurfacing service. Basically they just grind down through the CD, until the scratches are gone.

It is true that data is actually layered in the top layer of the discs.

Something I tried myself once, was putting some hair gel on the disc and then washing it off. The CD became readable, though that may have something to do with the wash, rather than the hair gel.

I can vouch for the tooth-paste method, works every time. Also, I didn't use aquafresh... i think i used colgate...