7 Ways to Clean and Fix Scratches on CD & DVD Disc

If you own bunch of CDs or DVDs and wish to last them longer keep yourself updated with hacks which will definitely come handy at right time instead of crying and regretting at last moment. I bet nothing can be more precious than game CDs of PlayStation, Xbox 360, and PC for hardcore gamers in their life, same is applicable with music lovers, you can't beat them. Also, you'll never commit mistake which can cause any damage to priceless wedding album CDs. Whether its a music, video, game, wedding, document or blank CD it hurts when you lose them. Keep this heartburn at bay with smart tips mention beneath.

How to Store & Handle CDs

It you store and handle them appropriately it can survive for 55 to 100 years. Few precautions should be taken while handling disc collection such as:

1. Hold DVD disc by inserting middle finger inside disc hole or hold at edges with two fingers.
2. Avoid touching shiny side while inserting or removing disc from ODD (Optical Disk Drive) to prevent finger marks.
3. Store unused-idle lying discs into jewel case attached firmly.

4. Have hundreds of CDs, DVDs piled up? Use cake boxes which are compact akin plastic container case.
5. Avoid placing disc under direct sunlight, excessive moisture or exorbitant heat.
6. Never keep hefty items on disc or jewel case, it might break or scratch glossy side

How to Clean any Disc

1. To wipe any accidental finger marks, spills or dust use dry micro-fiber cloth only (used for cleaning of spectacles, glares, computer-laptop screens)
2. Remove stains by lightly rinsing under distilled water followed by small gentle wipes. At all times utilize distilled water, tile, specs cleaner only and certainly not any detergents, chemicals, tap water.

3. Wipe shiny portion radially i.e. starting from center moving outwards, make small wipes. Never rub in circular motion, which might add extra scratches making it worse.

7 Ways to Fix Scratches

Despite taking precautions and care disc might end up with few scratches. Get rid of them without spending a penny with some clever tips. Before you begin to repair scratches remove possible marks, dust and keep utterly dry.

1. Toothpaste: Apply tooth paste on soft cloth or directly on scratched area, gently wipe outwards to buff the huge marks until it gleams. Make small rubs 3-4 times on one scratched portion followed by quick rinse-quick dry. This technique has benefited countless folks, make sure it's done appropriately. 
2. Heat: Many DJ's heat scratched portion or disc under lamp or similar object but keep shiny side away from lamp to prevent too much heating. Hold CD for approximately 1-2 minutes till the region gets warm. It has worked couple of times on non-readable and minor scratch containing discs. You must give a try, after all data inside disc is important for which every possible thing must be tried. 
3. Alcohol: Sprinkle general isopropyl alcohol solution onto glossy side, mostly on affected area and moderately wipe it off starting from inner circle moving towards outside. This solution is effective in cleaning many things like cleansing phone receiver, microphones, and earphones. 
4. Banana: Initially apply silica containing tooth paste, massage throughout with rag starting from center moving outwards. Next, take peeled banana and wipe in circular motion all over, do the same with banana skin (peel) this should fill-in every single scratch. Clean extra banana marks, strains, pieces lying on-top of disc with soft cloth and sprinkle nail polish remover or glass cleaner, again wipe in radial direction. Effectiveness of this trick depends on scratch severity and your efforts. Tough to achieve desired results for seriously and unplayable discs at all. 
5. Car Wax: Place some liquid car wax right on damaged portion, rub in & out gently. Rinse wholly under distilled water couple of times and allow it to dry naturally. It worked with discs that media player showed "Invalid Cd/Dvd". 
6. Furniture Polish: Use any furniture polish substance to buff the scratches, marks on disc. Procedure of placing and rubbing remains similar to above methods. For extremely scratched CDs polish 2-3 times to bring back to life and oh boy it works like charm. 
7. SkipDr: If your disc contains some irreplaceable-unobtainable data like project, wedding albums, priceless memories and every precious thing, it is highly recommended to spend some bucks and buy trustworthy kit like "SkipDr". It'll cost around 30$ which I'm sure is not more than those incomparable data, moments stored inside. This is extremely abrasive than above solutions.

Summary

These were some tested tweaks performed by many individuals and have achieved commendable results. Carefully try above tips convenient to you and hope for the best. It won't turn disc into brand new but will bring back to life, immediately copy data into hard disk, new CD or DVD and now onwards handle with care.

If you have any unscientific crazy solution to protect, clean, fix scratches on CDs DVDs kindly share under comment section:

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