[FaceMouth]

Hi

Looks like this is the best forum for this tip. Excuse me if it's not.

My original xp cd was scratched so bad I couldn't copy it to make my unattend cd. The only backup I had was slipstream with sp1a. I tried a few programs to recover all the files from the original disk, but none were 100% effective. Then I read about toothpaste. Unfortunately I can't remember the site I read about this on.

Anyway, get some cotton balls and put some toothpaste on them. Rub your scratched cd with the cotton balls until the majority of the scratches are gone.
Rinse the disc with water and dry it with a cloth that won't scratch.

This worked great for me. I just used paper towels to rub the toothpaste in, and to dry it. I put the disc in and was able to copy and paste the disc onto my hard drive without any errors.

The stupid $20 cd cleaning device I have couldn't even get all the scratches out.

I didn't wipe the disk until all the scratches were gone, just enough that a large majority of them were gone.

If anyone is interested, I used Crest Multi-Care mint flavored toothpaste. I only tried this since the disc was so damaged I didn't care if I completely wrecked it.

Hope this helps some people out.

[dirtwarrior]

Did you floss after
Actually this sounds like a good tip Thanks

[jaclaz]

Yep, some toothpastes are good, not all of them though.
Best product is BRASSO or similar polishing pastes, read here:
http://www.burningissues.net/how_to/scratc...ratchrepair.htm

jaclaz

[Zxian]

That's a good tip. I had heard of it before, but never tried it out. I would be wary of the following...

FaceMouth, on Sep 14 2005, 07:35 PM, said:

Rinse the disc with water and dry it with a cloth that won't scratch.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If there is any way for water to get under the surface of the label, you can kiss that CD gone within about 2-3 months. The water will evaporate under the label (that also contains the data layer) and create a hole when it evapourates. This hole will then expand as you use the disc, taking the data layer with it.

[trickytwista]

[quote name='dirtwarrior' date='Sep 15 2005, 04:10 AM']
Did you floss after
LMAO man, but yep sounds like a good tip, cheers

[FaceMouth]

@zxian
thanks for the info. I made sure to make a fresh burn after I retrieved the data. It's my understanding that rubbing alcohol is good to clean disks, correct me if I'm wrong though.


I don't floss.......I save the food in my teeth for a snack.

[Zxian]

FaceMouth, on Sep 15 2005, 12:19 PM, said:

It's my understanding that rubbing alcohol is good to clean disks, correct me if I'm wrong though.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I always just use a soft, clean cloth (even a clean t-shirt will do) and my breath to clean CDs. No need for any fancy chemicals or cleaners.

Breathe on the CD a bit (so you get the condensation on there) and then gently wipe radially (i.e. from the center to the edge) making your way around. DO NOT WIPE IN A CIRCLE OR AROUND THE DISC!!! Keep that habit up and you will end up with a scratched disc that will be very difficult to repair.

Although you should be handling your discs either at the center or the edge anyways... so cleaning shouldn't be necessary...

[jaclaz]

There is also a "last resort" technique, really only useful to salvage data from a badly scratched CD, that will be thrown away afterwards.

The real problem with scratches is the "sides" of them that "confuse" the reader, by polishng as detailed above, you flatten the scratch, but sometimes the scratch is so deep that it is impossible to do that, so there is this other way, FILL the scratch with a transparent material.

Two candidates:
1) Car WAX
2) Car glass (windshield) silicon/teflon based spray coating

Of course you need to WAIT until the product has completely dried off, BEFORE polishing the CD with a cloth and insering it in the drive.

jaclaz

[X-factor]

Gud tip dude i will try it on my scratched CD...
10x

[kurt476]

i never heared of toothpast doing that.

[suryad]

dirtwarrior, on Sep 14 2005, 08:10 PM, said:

Did you floss after
Actually this sounds like a good tip Thanks

Hahahahaha

[Takeshi]

FaceMouth, on Sep 14 2005, 10:35 PM, said:

If anyone is interested, I used Crest Multi-Care mint flavored toothpaste.

I suppose the gel is equally effective (since I use the gel).

[FaceMouth]

Quote

QUOTE(FaceMouth @ Sep 15 2005, 12:19 PM)
It's my understanding that rubbing alcohol is good to clean disks, correct me if I'm wrong though.

QUOTE(Zxian @ sep 15 2005, 3:02 PM)
I always just use a soft, clean cloth (even a clean t-shirt will do) and my breath to clean CDs. No need for any fancy chemicals or cleaners.

Now we can argue whether breath or alcohol will break down the cd faster since saliva is intended to help break down food would it be worse than alcohol on a cd?

(I'm being just a bit anal retentive now lol)

COOL.....Toothpaste gets an MSFN Forum 5 star rating!!! (maybe it shoutd be sticky......(really bad joke))

This post has been edited by FaceMouth: 23 October 2005 - 07:25 AM

[sven]

wow, kool. finaly a way to fix that **** game cd. it crashes at the same spot right before the end and i cant complete the game :'(

ill be soo happy ifit works

nice, ill try this. iv had this one game i couldn't finish cuz the cd was scratched. thanks a lot

[Zxian]

FaceMouth, on Oct 23 2005, 06:22 AM, said:

Now we can argue whether breath or alcohol will break down the cd faster since saliva is intended to help break down food would it be worse than alcohol on a cd?

I never said I spit on my CDs... It's mostly just water vapour that then condenses on the CD.

[FaceMouth]

Quote

Zxian Posted Yesterday, 03:07 PM
QUOTE(FaceMouth @ Oct 23 2005, 06:22 AM)

Now we can argue whether breath or alcohol will break down the cd faster since saliva is intended to help break down food would it be worse than alcohol on a cd?

I never said I spit on my CDs... It's mostly just water vapour that then condenses on the CD.

I know you menat you were not spitting on them. the vapor that comes out of people's mouths is not water. Even if it s water, would the minerals that are found in water. Depending on where a person lives determines how much and what type of minerals are in the water. Even with a water filter there are still some minerals.

Alcohol on the other hand does not have any minerals, so it is not as abrasive as water (of course I am referring to 99% alcohol). The problem with alcohol is that it's chemcal quality takes off some the coating on the disk.

(one of these days I'll figure out how to quote correctly)

This post has been edited by FaceMouth: 28 October 2005 - 07:39 PM

[jaclaz]

facemouth said:

Alcohol on the other hand does not have any minerals, so it is not as abrasive as water (of course I am referring to 99% alcohol). The problem with alcohol is that it's chemcal quality takes off some the coating on the disk.

If you drink three or four glasses of Absolute vodka BEFORE trying polishing a CD the whatever is in your mouth will be VERY like Alcohol, .....but you would probably lose interest in the actual CD polishing....


jaclaz

[sarkar1985]

thanks a lot

[EchoNoise]

jaclaz, on Sep 15 2005, 10:47 PM, said:

Yep, some toothpastes are good, not all of them though.
Best product is BRASSO or similar polishing pastes, read here:
http://www.burningissues.net/how_to/scratc...ratchrepair.htm

jaclaz

Yep, I'd agree to that, fixed about 3 cd's now with brasso

[nospoon]

dirtwarrior, on Sep 14 2005, 11:10 PM, said:

Did you floss after

LMAO

FaceMouth, on Oct 28 2005, 08:38 PM, said:

I know you menat you were not spitting on them. the vapor that comes out of people's mouths is not water. Even if it s water, would the minerals that are found in water. Depending on where a person lives determines how much and what type of minerals are in the water. Even with a water filter there are still some minerals.

Try distilled water