Question, what do you use to properly remove scratches from discs?
I Bought this junk for $6 at Walmart
But it doesn't seem to work, instead it created even more scratches, and the only video that shows how to use it has a rather suspicious jumpcut.
CD Scratch Repairing?
Question, what do you use to properly remove scratches from discs?
I Bought this junk for $6 at Walmart
But it doesn't seem to work, instead it created even more scratches, and the only video that shows how to use it has a rather suspicious jumpcut.
Best solution I've found is the buffing machine at the local video rental shop. I always get a mirror finish and they give me volume discounts for anything over three discs at a time.
Only way to really fix it is with a professional buffing machine. I don't know of any stores near me that can do it properly since rental stores are basically all out of business and the only game store in my area doesn't know what they're doing. Don't bother with any of the junk products.
Son of a Fuck, and i live in fucking Mexico, when people think that scratch it with water will make it better.
Why does Junk products like this are sold on places like Walmart then if they don't really work.
What really sicks me is that i actually saw another video that claims stuff like this (as well as risky looking stuff such as putting Vaseline of white Colgate on it) will resurface the disc, heck i even read a place that says you could use Brasso!, yeah fricking Brasso!.
Next time you're telling me those old Disc Doctors were useless too......
Why is this misinformation keep being spread on teh internet like the one of using Windex on game contacts?, or heck even the mentality that removing grain on old films make its better on HD?.
To get your money. At best these products will make your disc readable, but they won't remove all scratches.Originally Posted by Gatucaman
It's like with VCRs or cassette decks, they make cleaning tapes but these are really junk. They either won't clean the machines properly or they'll ruin the heads that they're supposed to help protect. Especially the dry cleaning tapes which act more like sandpaper, these are way worse than the wet kind.
I have heard varying reports on Brasso and toothpaste, so do not automatically discount those methods. Just that I have a rental store with a professional buffing machine close by. The disc Doctors work but be aware that they leave radial marks on the disc surface. If you have no one nearby with one of these machines, then I would recommend Disc Doctor as your second best option.
Well, back in the PS1 era there was this crap we nicknamed "purple stuff" which was amazing. It pretty much worked as advertised and could be done by hand. Turns out it's extremely toxic and it was yanked off the market. So I too vote "find a buffing machine". If you have a HUGE collection the machines themselves aren't terribly expensive you can pick one up with the stuff to make it work for around 200ish. 100 discs later and it's paid for itself? Not exactly ideal but it depends how many cd based systems you collect for.
Yeah, I JFJ Easy Pro I think is only like $120 on Amazon with free shipping. I've been debating grabbing one myself.
CD Scratch Repairing?
I also vote a professional buffing machine. If you don't have anything like that near you, aren't there places online that offer that service too?
I did try some home kit for cleaning discs years back and it made a tiny bit of difference, but now I just post a batch off to a company with a proper machine instead. Last one I used, the discs came back looking near-perfect. May cost a bit per disc, but you get what you pay for and depending on the value of the game, can pay for itself.
Any suggestions on the company to use?
I go to Family Video and have them use their industrial machine. One time I had some pretty deep circle of death scratches on a 360 game so they didn't charge me because they didn't know if it would even work after running it twice through the machine, that was cool of them. Sadly it in fact didn't work, so I had to return the game to the used game store I bought it from (not Gamestop, lol).
Only problem guys, i live in mexico, we don't have any of that stuff, and here i am buying 6 dollar crap from wal-mart.
Sadly, I'm in the UK so anything I suggest probably wouldn't be of much use. It looks like the one I used last time has since disappeared. I'll probably try these when I've built up enough scratched discs to make it worthwhile.
watched a couple videos about this after reading about it here. It looks great! I've searched around before and found everything decent was way out of my price range. don't know how I missed this. I read some people say it can leave swirls after, which may be a deal breaker for me.
Anyone here have experience with this machine, or anything better in the same price range?
Any machine can leave swirls behind if you don't know how to use it. The game store near me uses an Azuradisc which cost a few thousand, yet they left swirl marks when finished. They didn't use it right.
Went to Family Video today and had 20 discs resurfaced for $20. All look like new and not too bad a deal IMO.
And the swirls don't mean the disc won't work either... I use the Disc Dr. thing a lot on audio CDs I checkout from the library. As long as the label side of the disc isn't scratched, Disc Dr. makes them readable every single time. It definitely leaves a dull swirly pattern all over it, but it reads perfectly. (I use a program that reads the audio multiple times to guarantee it's getting the same data every time, and then even compares against an online database of checksums, so I know it's reading perfectly.) Only label-side scratches and damage are un-reparable (on CDs or CD-ROMs). If there's a scratch on the label side that you can see on the read side of the disc, it's permanently damaged in that area. DVDs and Blu-ray aren't affected by scratches on the label side.
Other techniques I've used with near-perfect reliability are the brasso/toothpaste technique. I actually use a product I bought at an auto-parts store for restoring the surface of plastic headlight assemblies, but it has about the same grit as Brasso probably. The catch is that it's a bit of work. You can't just wipe it 2 or 3 times, you have to buff it while applying some pressure fairly fast for 5-10 minutes in each area of the disc that's damaged. I suspect the Scratch Out stuff the OP mentioned is similar to this. It'll work, but it takes a bit of effort if the disc is really scratched (and it won't look new afterwards, but it should play at least). And the discs are waterproof, so you can just wash them off and gently dry them in between buffings as you test readability
None of these techniques will make the disc _look_ brand new (only the pro machines when properly used will do that), but it will make the disc readable again. If you want mint-looking discs, you'll have to find a pro machine. If you just want to play your game/read the disc, try the homebrew techniques first. If sending to a pro is the last alternative, you can't really make it any worse by trying some buffing yourself first.
Also, don't use _any_ of these products on Blu-ray or PS3 discs... Those discs are made differently with a special coating on them that's very hard to scratch, but can't be repaired by buffing (unless someone has made a special machine just for Blu-ray discs now, but none of these home-brew techniques will work on them).
If it's CD/CD-ROM based, make sure the scratches are all on the read side before trying to repair them. Label-scratches are permanent and not reparable (and certainly don't try to buff that side, you'll pull the metallic surface right off the disc...)
Last edited by rik1138; 11-19-2013 at 08:43 PM.
Video Game Express?
We've done this.
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/show...d-of-scratches
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