Scratched Discs

[MarioMania]

I watched a Vid on youtube about using toothpast to fix scraches..Does it really work, I have Marvel vs Capcom 2 on the Xbox..I want to play it tonight....

[Vectorman0]

Have it done professionally with a real machine, don't mess around with anything else. I'm not sure where you could go locally to do that, though I would try a video rental place or local game store and see if they can do it for you.

[MarioMania]

I guess I have to wait til Friday when I go to Gamecrzy

[otoko]

It doesn't really fix scratches, it more or less cleans the groves out.

[mnbren05]

Go to Game Stop, Game Crazy, or a video game chain that resurfaces. The Toothpaste trick works in essence, but it can actually damage the disc. One family when I started at my current location (which is closing in the next six weeks, putting me out of a job due to Movie Gallery's restructer program) in Spring of last year brought in a disc that they "tried to fix themselves". They used a a toothpast with some type of additive that clouded the disc surface and rendered the game trash. And honestly, with something like MVC2 go pro. I would never recommend anything (not even a Disc Dr.) for anything resurfacing after working with a genuine machine resurfacer machine and seeing the damage that people do to discs with toothpaste, Comet, baking soda, and a plethora of "Home-made" and "You Tube" quick fixes.

[OldSchoolGamer]

Remember "Swatches"? I had one with a silver face and large clear face that scratched at the slightest touch but I loved that watch (Oh the 80's!) toothpaste is a mild abrasive, it took some time and a LOT of rubbing/polishing but it removed minor and light scratches successfully MANY times for me, however you will have to put a light coat of toothpaste to cover the scratched area and using a soft cloth rub for several minutes in a circular motion, it will take time, also you want to make sure none of that toothpaste is spread near or over the center hub of the disc as it tends to leak into the layers between the disc. It CAN work for minor light scratches but takes time and effort to be effective..................

[RyanMurf]

I'm pretty sure that tooth paste has some alcohol content in it. If you are going to do this be careful because the alcohol in the toothpaste will wipe the data rite of the top if you accidentally get some on the top of the disc. Although getting it done professionally is the best way.

[Nitrosport]

I've always thought this guys method works best:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=eOGgUGC1zmc

J/K....I've had some success with a disk doctor but it leaves those ugly swirl marks. You could always send it to http://collectorscardsandgames.com/ to have it done professionally. He's an honest guy so you wont have to worry about anything.

Ray

[DKTheArcadeRat]

If you want it done on a professional machine, I can certainly do it for you, (and due to comment the other day) will do it at no charge if you ship it out and pay for it to be shipped back. I've had nothing really but good things said about the resurfacing jobs I've done for friends and members of the board.

Just let me know.

[aaron7]

I'm pretty sure that tooth paste has some alcohol content in it. If you are going to do this be careful because the alcohol in the toothpaste will wipe the data rite of the top if you accidentally get some on the top of the disc. Although getting it done professionally is the best way.

wtf? What does alcohol have to do with wiping data? X_x

[RyanMurf]

wtf? What does alcohol have to do with wiping data? X_x
If you notice when you look at the top part of a disc like a GAME for example you will see all those colors that make up the picture on the top side of the disc. Well yeah that is what you call a sticker. On the under side of the sticker is where all of the data gets written too. So did you ever use alchol to get ink of your hands or something. It works pretty good which means it works pretty good on the ink on the top of your favorite Game. Trust me i know from personal experiance:oops:

[Cornelius]

If you notice when you look at the top part of a disc like a GAME for example you will see all those colors that make up the picture on the top side of the disc. Well yeah that is what you call a sticker. On the under side of the sticker is where all of the data gets written too. So did you ever use alchol to get ink of your hands or something. It works pretty good which means it works pretty good on the ink on the top of your favorite Game. Trust me i know from personal experiance:oops:
Was your personal experience by any chance with a CD-R? I'm 99% sure what you said is not true of commercial discs.

[RyanMurf]

Was your personal experience by any chance with a CD-R? I'm 99% sure what you said is not true of commercial discs.

No im sure I work at a video game store. I see games that come in all the time with top disc scratches scratches on the paint or picture on the top of the disc. all the data is on that sticker. If you scratch the paint or sticker you scratch the data rendering the disc useless. And im also about 99% sure that all discs from cd-bluray are the same way. There is still that 1% chance im wrong in which i will stand corrected but I see this all the time. Here maybe this will help-

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii54/ryanmurf/ryandone.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii54/ryanmurf/ryandoen2.jpg

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Ryan is in essence correct, in a cross-section of a CD or DVD the "data" is actually closer to the top side of the disc than the bottom.

And in the case of a DVD or CD, anything abrasive or corrosive on the top-side is likely to do more permanent damage because of it's proximity to the data than it would on the bottom layer, which has enough plastic to be strip-surfaced or re-surfaced multiple times.

The short short is that - sure a big honkin' scratch on the bottom is going to make your disc un-readable, but there's still a chance that you can get it fixed, while a big honkin' scratch on the top side has a much higher chance of being fatal to the data layer.

[Cornelius]

I stand corrected! I thought the data layer was pressed between layers of plastic on commercial discs. I knew cdrs were as described above, but thought the rest were different. Good to know!

[evildragon]

CD's and DVD's are slightly different. GameCube uses DVD techniques for the most part.

CD:
http://www.fresh-spin.com/images/cdLayersAnnotated.jpg

DVD:
http://www.fresh-spin.com/images/dvdLayersAnnotated.jpg

Double Sided DVD:
http://www.fresh-spin.com/images/dblDvdLayersAnnotated.jpg

You will find that the data is NOT at the label, but the scratches there would damage the REFLECTIVE portion.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Those diagrams show CD's have a much smaller layer on the top-side closer to the data.

I could be wrong - but I was under the impression that single-layer DVD's which are the size/type of DVD's that most XBOX and PS2 games used - were manufactured in the same way as CD's with a smaller layer of plastic on the top side.

It's also noteable that any modern game is going to have silk-screening on the top side that can't be safely re-surfaced without the risk of taking HUGE chunks of the top plastic layer off (I've seen it attempted and the silk screening in most cases heat-bonds with the DVD plastic when it's printed).

[RyanMurf]

Those diagrams show CD's have a much smaller layer on the top-side closer to the data.

I could be wrong - but I was under the impression that single-layer DVD's which are the size/type of DVD's that most XBOX and PS2 games used - were manufactured in the same way as CD's with a smaller layer of plastic on the top side.

It's also noteable that any modern game is going to have silk-screening on the top side that can't be safely re-surfaced without the risk of taking HUGE chunks of the top plastic layer off (I've seen it attempted and the silk screening in most cases heat-bonds with the DVD plastic when it's printed).

Yes I also think this is correct. lets just put it like this.... dont scratch the top of the disc because then it cant be fixed.