Cleaning a DVD/CD

I just read in a magazine that you should use peanut butter to get out the scratches and then go over it with a clean, smooth cloth. I really haven't tried it yet, though. There is also a kit you can buy in the store that has some sort of cream and cloth in it. Maybe you could ask in an electronics store. Good luck~!

I clean my dvd's and cd's with windex and a paper towel. They usually always work unless the scratches are deep. As long as there is no debris on the surface then it should go ahead and play. If it doesn't you aren't loosing anything by trying the other options.

I heard/saw The View when the showed the toothpaste trick- I haven't done it but can't wait to try it. I figure it is no less scary than throwing away the CD/DVD!

I use to manage a used CD store. Whoever told you windex was ok well it isn't, neither is toothpaste. If you go to most cd stores, radioshacks, I personally worked at CD tradepost, well they have special sprays to help clean cds and a polymer that fills in the crevices a bit. Otherwise if you live near a CD tradepost, I don't know anyone else who does it, they will buff your cd out to new. If you want to do it and your husband is into cars, or jewelry All you need is a polisher used on metals and such. Put a clean buffer on it and you can buff all the scratches out of your cd/dvd etc. But those are the best things. If you don't want to do any of those then water and a soft cloth is all you really should do. Everything else will just make matters worse. I had a friend who figured out how to use his dremel and the polishing kit to do it. But I imagine that is a fine art. But you can always try that.

OH and as someone else said the data is on the top of the cd, you know the part with the writing. So if the scratches are there it is garbage! You can't do a thing about that. But if they are on the under layer if it's just debris and finger prints just water and a soft cloth, if it's actual scratches that are making it skip like I said above best thing is that polymer solution. Everything else will crode the disc or could make matters worse.

By the way don't use the CD doctor. Alot of people recommend it. People who cleaned their cd's with that would come in all the time and usually the disc was beyond repair even with the buffer. You can only take so many layers of plastic off before the disc is unusable.

Good luck!

You can buy a special product for this purpose at Best Buy and probably at Target too. It usually comes in a kit with cleaner and scratch remover. It works well. You should also use special cloths that are often provided in the kit to be on the safe side. Contrary to what one of the posters said, I've always heard that you never rub a CD or DVD in a circular motion. You wipe up and down from the center to the edge.

I've done toothpaste and oil before. It worked well. Personally I like oil best since it's less to clean up. Just rub the oil on the disc and wipe with a soft town. Try not to rub off all the oil. Good luck!

my husband uses creamy peanut butter and a very soft cloth. rubs in just a dab with his fingers then carefully wipes it off. don't know how but it works every time for fingerprints, scratches,etc on any discs.

S. m

We recently bought a little machine specifically for cleaning/repairing CDs. My husband got it at Radio Shack for around $25-30. It is very easy to use and very quick. You spray a polymor based spray on the cd, put it into the machine and it buffs is for you. After the buffing cycle us done you use a special cloth to wipe off any liquid thar remains. It doesn't fix all of the scratches but we have been able to save about ten CDs that we thought were ruined. With a 2 year old who wants to change CDs all by herself it was definately worth the money!

We bought a special disc cleaner you can pick up at an office supply store - or possibly at music store. It's a white liquid you pour on and then rub off. It's not magic on those really deep scratches, but it does do the trick on light scratches. It's not that expensive (less than $5) and it's made for this job.

Good luck,
S.

Furniture polish, such as Pledge, will fill in the scratches and make the DVD play uninterrupted.

Spray a light amount on the DVD and rub in with a circular motion using a tissue or Kleenex.

Someone sent my husband a CNN link a few months ago and they talked about CD's and DVD's with scratches. The actual data is on the front of the disc! We didn't know that. The person also said to use a baking soda based toothpaste and a soft cloth and apply in small circular strokes.
I can't remember the actual link but I'm sure you can google it. It was rather interesting.

toothpaste is the best. It is a polisher and it will reduce (not totally remove) the scratches in the clear plastic of the dvd.

i just had this problem with a cd i checked out from the library, it had some scratches and some smudges, i used some lens wipes, for my eyeglasses and the video played just fine after that, hope it works for you, if the scratches are really bad i don't think there is much you can do.

Tooshpaste works you just need to make sure it's just toothpast. NO whiteners or plus scope or anything.