CDs
and DVDs are remarkably resistant to casual scratches and gouges but sooner
or later everyone has a disc that causes a CD player to skip, or, in the
case of DVDs, show odd video artifacts. When a scratch prevents the laser
beam from reading data, both CD and DVD players have built-in digital
circuits with lots of redundancy to correct for "drop-outs." These
correction circuits search for and replace missing data until eventually the
damage exceeds the CD player’s ability to electronically compensate for the
scratch. That’s when the machine skips.
Check to see if a scratch is beyond repair by holding a CD up to the light.
If you can see light through the scratch, forget trying to fix the CD.
Scratches on the upper label surface are impossible to repair. But on the
shiny playing side of the disc, a quick polish with any liquid auto wax will
often fix minor scratches. Apply a few drops of the liquid wax to the
damaged area, then wait for it to dry to a haze. Carefully buff away the
haze with a soft cloth or cotton ball. Don’t buff in a circular motion
around the CD - do it across the disc. It’s easiest if you put the disc on
an old towel on a flat surface to do the work.
Cleaning options
There are a handful of commercial cleaning options on the market, but we've
found some home remedies work just as well, if not better. If you're too
cheap to spend the bread on a commercial solution, find an alternative
around your house.
-Baking soda toothpaste
Baking soda toothpaste, huh? Actually, any mild abrasive like furniture
polish, Pledge, or plastic polish works fine for removing CD scratches. Just
take any lint-free cloth, add some of the abrasive to the afflicted area,
and then wipe. Make sure to wipe from the center of the disc to the rim in a
straight line. Never wipe in a circular pattern.
This only works on minor scratches, but I found the results were OK. While
it does not work well in bringing back heavily scratched CDs from the grave,
it does help to stop CDs with light to moderate scratches from skipping.
