Fix a Scratched CD

Steps to make Cd work

1. POLISH

If you've got a disc that won't play, start with the simplest solution: give it a gentle, but thorough cleaning.

Take a damp, lint free cloth (the cloth used to clean eyeglasses works very well) and starting in the center of the CD, wipe to the outside edge in a straight line. The direction of the polishing is important, don't wipe in circles, and don't wipe randomly. Move in a straight line, center to edge.

Now that you've got all the surface blemishes off, give the CD try.

2. Repairing Scratches

Sprays For A Temporary Fix You can get "anti-glare coatings" for eyeglasses that change the way light goes through the glasses by adding a thin layer with a refractive index between that of air and the lens material. There are sprays designed to do the same thing for CDs, and they can fix many read errors due to scratches, at least temporarily. One I've used many times is Optrix.

Polish the CD Two popular ways of polishing out scratches include using toothpaste (get the kind with baking soda in it) and Brasso. In either case apply a thin layer to the scratched area and wipe from the inside out to polish out the scratch. Although popular in internet postings, the brand of toothpaste may matter, and the toothpaste or Brasso abrasive will replace scratches with finer ones, possibly making the problem worse. A low-cost commercial solution such as Allsop 'DVD Scratch Repair" (about $3 retail -- www.allsop.com) provides extremely fine abrasive fluid and a fine polishing cloth which always will improve the playing; the cloth alone may improve results with toothpaste or Brasso.

Wax the CD Along the same lines as the toothpaste method, you can try applying a very thin coat of Vaseline, car wax or shoe polish to the scratched area. Caution: Wax may be difficult to remove and may make further polishing attempts more difficult.

Professional Refinishing Unless the scratch is very deep the above methods should work. If they don't you can always try having your CD refinished by a professional service. Consult your local music store or try searching for CD refinishing in your favorite search engine.

Audio CD Scratches For some CD's that are scratched and skipping, you can use iTunes to import the CD and attempt to fix some of the scratches. To do this go to the Preferences -> General -> Import Settings and make sure that "User Error Correction when Reading Audio CD's" is ticked. For a badly scratched CD it may take a LONG time to read it (possibly hours for one disc) but it can make some CD's quite listenable.

Meguire's Deep Crystal (cleaning system) Paint Cleaner Personally, the best product I have ever found to restore BADLY damaged CDs and DVDs is Meguire's Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner, which is part abrasive and part high quality carnauba wax. It is applied by 2-3 drops onto the offending disc. Spread it thin on the whole disc or just where you see scratches. Allow it to dry completely and then buff in a circular motion while checking that it is indeed polishing the scratches out. Some people may say to wipe from the center out, and that is OK for cleaning some discs, but with this product I would recommend a soft, lint free, dry cloth, such as a microfiber towel burnishing/polishing in small circular motions. With this cloth or towel you will obtain the best results by polishing in small circular motions. The reason for this is because not all scratches will be fill-able only moving from the center towards the outside of the disc.