cleaning DVD

[zinfamous]

Wasn't sure where to post this..

I have incurred a few scratches on a PS2 game (gold surface), and the game locks up at certain points; and one spot specifically.

I've read several topics ranging from simply dempening a cloth, or even using rubbing alcohol to clean teh surface--bu not sure what this will do if these are real scratches.

One thing that surprised me, is that someone once mentioned using ordinary toothpaste and rub it on the surface. It seems to allow the laser to read through the scratches...anyone else heard of this? Would it be worth trying? ....

 

[Rage187]

not sure I would try this.

When you are brushing your teeth you are using an abrasive with a brush to get plaque off your teeth.

Now think what it's going to do to the surface of the disc.

 

[sjandrewbsme]

I would use a fine polish before I would use toothpaste. I think toothpaste is a little too abrasive. I think the most important thing is to buff radially and not tangentially.

 

[Muse]

I think there's threads about stuff like that at DVDTalk Forums. I participated in some of those. I had a DVD that wouldn't play, in fact more than one. Here's what one guy posted:

speedy1961 says:

Well you could try boiling the DVD to see if that helps (and no, I'm not kidding) but what I would first recommend is to see if you have a Hollywood Video store near you.

Hollywood Video usually has DVD polishing machines and usually if you ask nicely / are a customer, they may run your damaged disc through their machine to see if that clears up the problem enough so that it's playable. If they won't do it for free, you could offer a couple of dollars for them to do it.

I buy used DVD from Hollywood all the time and the DVDs I'm hesitant to buy due to scratches / marks, they'll run through their machine and I've had no problems with the DVD afterward.

Barring that, you could see if there are any places that do disc resurfacing in your phone book.

Here are a couple of threads which deal with this topic (including boiling):

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=448504&highlight=Boiling
From the above thread:

No need for a pro machine at a high price to do a good, though not perfect, job.
Get a bench grinder ($30), and replace the grinding wheels with cotton buffing wheels ($8.00 each). All I could find at Lowes were "hard" and "medium," but that combination works pretty well. You hit the deeper scratches with the hard wheel first then polish with the medium wheel (or soft wheel if you can find one). It takes a little practice, but I've used this setup on hundreds of DVDs.

For deeper scratches or gouges use a Dremmel tool with a polishing wheel first, then polish with the grinder. This tool needs a light touch and takes a lot of practice. And you can only use it on the lowest speed: anything higher will burn right through the DVD surface in an instant. Unless you polish it in the grinder It leaves a dull surface area, but usually makes the DVD play.

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=383153&highlight=Boiling

This one's especiall good ---> http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=447554&highlight=Boiling

I did the boiling thing first. I believe the technique is to immerse the DVD in boiling water. I did it about 3 times and after doing so it would play. It locks up in the end credits but I can live with that. The other DVD I brought to a Hollywood Video and they run it in their DVD polisher for free and afterward the disk played fine. Initially it wouldn't play at all. You can buy polishers but Hollywood Video's was better than cheap consumer targeting polishers.

 

[zinfamous]

good suggestions--thanks for the link! i assume this wouldn't be any different than with a ps2 disc....