How to clean or repair a CD or DVD

How to clean or repair CD's and DVD's

If you have children then you have seen DVD's that skipped or would not work at all. Likewise if you rent or borrow discs from the library. Fortunately, most of these can be cleaned or repaired to work like new.

Cleaning: First, wash off fingerprints using dishwashing detergent and a gentle rubbing action. Do not wash in a circular pattern around the disc, instead wash radially out from the centre and back. Flush with clean water until all detergent is gone. You should be able to shake off most of the droplets of water, leaving a few small droplets held by surface tension. Remove them by 'wicking' them into a tissue or paper towel.

Try the CD or DVD to see if it now works. If not, you might want to try some other discs, to see if the problem is with the disc player. If the problem is just with a disc or two, then try the disc repair method below.

Repair: Do not start with any of the polishing gadgets that are available commercially. They can be useful, but first try the simpler method below.

The goal here is to fill any scratches with a wax or grease that has the same index of refraction as polycarbonate (that the disc is made out of). I have had luck with silicon grease intended for scuba valves, but other cheaper substances will work. Don't try anything containing solvents that might attack the polycarbonate. Don't try anything like glue or varnish that will harden or bond with the polycarbonate.

Apply a small quantity of the grease and rub it into the scratches. Remove any surplus using a tissue paper, and gently shine up the surface. Now see if it works.

This method works even for CD's with small cracks! That is something that the polishing gadgets cannot do.

If you have not had any luck so far, it is time to try more drastic approaches. Get a polishing gadget such as Merlin's Disc Magic or digitalinnovations.com skipDr or use your dremel tool with the buffing pad. Caution: the plastic can heat up quickly to the point where it 'flows' with the buffing pad. Use a polishing compound intended for car shining. Make sure that the direction of buffing is radial (from the center out or in) and not around the disc. Some polishing compounds are coarser than others, so you want to start with coarse and progress to fine.

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