IC Forum Archive

George · Posts: 1656

I've heard of several methods of fixing scratched CDs - rubbing them with tooth paste, rubbing them with Brasso (a metal polish), and buying some fancy CD scratch remover. I've heard both good things and bad things about each of them, which is why I'm interested but not yet willing to subject my CDs to them. Has anyone had good experiences with any of these, and how do you avoid making things worse?

Legal Step · Posts: 1030

Buy new ones.

ReroRero · Posts: 2148

I'd suggest totally blingin' beats but you have CDs, not vinyl.

BalbanesBeoulve · Posts: 2126

This record store around here will resurface them for a couple of bucks. I have no idea what exactly they do to them, but supposedly it works good.

dark steve · Posts: 3002

Those Game Doctor things work pretty good.

edit:Whateva!

kirby · Posts: 29

Buy a Game Doctor. Those things kick ass.

GcDiaz · Posts: 1057

I've got the Game Doctor (not to be confused with CD Doctor and DVD Doctor...HA!!). Works alright, but it won't perform miracles. If the scratches are more like gouges, fuggedaboutit.

extralife · Posts: 3316

Toothpaste seems to work, as long as you're not too rough.

George · Posts: 1656

The CD I need to fix is a copy of Vagrant Story I just ordered. I could return it, but it would be a pain in the butt (not being able to play it until I got a new copy AND not getting my shipping costs/tax refunded) and I'd rather try to fix it first. Honestly the CD looks much better than a lot of my CDs, but it freezes up at a certain animation, so there must be a tiny scratch affecting something important. I guess I'll try the toothpaste thing, and if it doesn't work I'll send it back to EB.

Mokhir · Posts: 111

Some people will buff your cd until it's polished down and the cd is smooth.

DON'T LET THEM DO THAT!

extralife · Posts: 3316

Are you playing Vagrant Story on a PS1? An older one, specifically? If so, it might be the system. I've noticed that Vagrant Story seems to eat older systems alive--even if they manage to work with other games just fine.

killy · Posts: 162

I was under the impression that disc buffers work for normal CDs because there's that layer of plastic to buff down. Do those things work with PSX/PS2 discs where the surface that holds the data is just kind of hanging out in the wind?

George · Posts: 1656

extralife wrote:

Are you playing Vagrant Story on a PS1? An older one, specifically? If so, it might be the system. I've noticed that Vagrant Story seems to eat older systems alive--even if they manage to work with other games just fine.

I'm playing it on a PS2. I know that PS2s are pieces of crap, so I tried it on epsxe, and it froze at that animation as well.

wourme · Posts: 101

I recently discovered that you can trade in an EBGames online purchase at a physical store. One that I bought had a pretty serious scratch and wouldn't play. They didn't have the game on the shelf (Growlanser: Generations), but they had several copies in a drawer behind the counter. I got an immaculate replacement, no questions asked. Excellent game, too.

You might already know this and it might not work with older games, but I thought I'd mention it.

George · Posts: 1656

I tried that once, they didn't have a copy and wouldn't refund the shipping (ebgames also charged sales tax on my last order, which I bet they won't refund). I doubt they'd have Vagrant Story, so it'd probably be the same deal, which isn't ideal. But I'll do it if none of the home repairs work.

Waffen · Posts: 1638

take scratched dvds/cds/pornos to your local gamecrazy and they will polish them for about $5 each.
cheaper if you buy their membership card.

Teflon · Posts: 286

A note on the toothpaste method: it only works with polishing types of toothpaste. The kind sold as whitening. Using regular old toothpaste will do nothing except lend a minty freshness to your discs.

Also, try ripping an ISO of the disc. If it doesn't work on your own PC try a friend's, there are pretty big differences in optical drives' abilities to read flaky discs. I've got a DVD burner that'll read discs I'd dismissed as gone for years.

Teflon
Another pro tip: however tempting it seems, don't use a Dremel.

Rya.Reisender · Posts: 985

extralife wrote:

Toothpaste seems to work, as long as you're not too rough.

I second that. I saw it working!

George · Posts: 1656

Teflon wrote:

A note on the toothpaste method: it only works with polishing types of toothpaste. The kind sold as whitening. Using regular old toothpaste will do nothing except lend a minty freshness to your discs.

Really? I assumed the more additives the more damage it would do. I used regular Arm & Hammer toothpaste rather than the Advance White stuff they sell. It didn't ruin the CD but it didn't make it any better.

Rya.Reisender · Posts: 985

You can't see the A-Ending in Valkyrie Profile if your CD got scratches and you got no toothpaste.

aderack · Posts: 5018

Makes some sense, if the polishing kind refracts light more well. Which you'd think it would, maybe.

Maztorre · Posts: 1175

What we need is GameFAQs hardware profiles with compatibility listings for each brand of toothpaste. I demand to know if Crest is compatible with the Brazilian Mega CD.

Teflon · Posts: 286

Really, all toothpaste does for discs is act as a very mild abrasive. If you use a toothpaste without abrasive properties there's not much point. It's certainly not going to fill scratches like the magically color-shifting car wax from the infomercials.

Teflon
You can tell which toothpastes have a polishing agent by checking whether the inside of your cheek feels like it's disintegrating after use.

Rya.Reisender · Posts: 985

Maybe the car wax works for the CDs?

all monsters · Posts: 144

Has anyone mentioned the marker trick yet? Draw over the scratched area with a flurescent marker then rub it in with a tissue. Works amazingly well.

yellowlightman · Posts: 359

Rya.Reisender wrote:

Maybe the car wax works for the CDs?

I've heard Turtle Wax works... so in theory just about any car wax should work.

Duke of New York · Posts: 65

The Disc Doctors work really good, but apparently after long enough you need a new wheel because the wheel gets worn down enough to the point that it will actually scratch the disc instead of fix it. Not to worry though, that won't happen for a long time.

And all the Disc Doctors are the same, just labeled differently.

aderack · Posts: 5018

What do they... do? Are those the machines that scrape a layer of plastic off the CD?

B coma · Posts: 1455

Today, I stopped in a game store and saw a copy of Final Fantasy Chronicles for PS1. I asked to see the condition of disk (they only had one of a two disk set), and when the clerk flipped it over, it looked like someone had taken a electric sander to it. The clerk said they used a Game Doctor on it...

shnozlak · Posts: 704

that means that they diddnt use the solution stuff that comes with it (Or so Im told).

The big thing to check for is holes in the label.

FortNinety · Posts: 4591

Hmmm... my copy of Napple Tale that I bought off eBay does not work (on the title screen, when I hit start, it goes to the next screen with some tiles, and they just freeze, though the music still plays). There are hardly any scratches, but perhaps I'll try one of the methods prescribed. And watch me fuck it up somehow.

all monsters · Posts: 144

Just to re-iterate:

My room mates don't care for disks very well, so the highlighter trick is used frequently in this house. Yesterday, for instance.

I should mention that I've never used it on a game before, but the method has always worked flawlessly on regular cd's and dvd's.

Brock · Posts: 421

FortNinety wrote:

Hmmm... my copy of Napple Tale that I bought off eBay does not work (on the title screen, when I hit start, it goes to the next screen with some tiles, and they just freeze, though the music still plays). There are hardly any scratches, but perhaps I'll try one of the methods prescribed. And watch me fuck it up somehow.

Are you sure it's not just a fucked up GD-ROM?

My Dreamcast has a horrible habit of just not playing certain games. I've gone through two copies of Virtua Tennis and three of Samba De Amigo, and getting them both to work requires nothing short of goat sacrifice.

Napple Tale, though; I'm pretty sure that's one of the few Japanese games that has problems working on US systems. If that's not the case, I don't know what's going on.

And make sure not to use any Disc Doctors on it. GD-ROMs are slightly thicker than their CD counterparts, so without the "Special Orange Dreamcast Wheel," it apparently strips the data pits right off.