Repairing scratched/damaged CDs

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Travis
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Repairing scratched/damaged CDs

#1 Post by Travis » Sun Sep 12, 2004 9:01 pm

Yesterday I discovered that one of my favorite discs is damaged causing several songs on the disc to skip.

Anyone have some good methods of repairing damaged CDs? I know there are some products on the market for such a thing but I've never tried them.

Any help would be appreciated.

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Lawrence
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#2 Post by Lawrence » Mon Sep 13, 2004 9:16 am

It depends on whether the scratch is to the top or bottom of the CD.

The data is stored on the top layer. If it is scratched (so as to create a transparent nick in the CD through which you can see light when it is held up to the light), then the CD is ruined. The best you can do is try to record it through Nero or some other program that has error-control software that can sometimes fill in the gap. I don't know how it works (perhaps it just reads slower and catches all available data that a CD player might miss), but I have saved a few CDs that way. The scratch cannot be that big for the software to fill in the gap.

The bottom of the CD is nothing but plastic to hold the top data layer in place. You can buff the bottom of a CD an unlimited number of times (or at least until you buff through the entire CD).

The most common CD buffing kits contain a liquid similar to car wax with a rag. They are good at removing superficial scratches, but not much more. Used CD shops have industrial buffing machines that can buff any scratch out, whatsoever. Like brand new. You might be able to convince one of them to buff your CD for a small fee. There are less powerful buffing machines on the market, but I haven't found anything that works that well, at all.
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Mr Awesomer
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#3 Post by Mr Awesomer » Mon Sep 13, 2004 9:56 am

If you run Exact Audio Copy on it with all the setting right it can save it. Might take letting it run over night though. Basicly if some thing doesn't match up it checks the data over and over again until it has enough matching information to make a correct copy. I've saved some amazingly screwed up disks this way.
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main_stem
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#4 Post by main_stem » Mon Sep 13, 2004 11:53 am

If the scratch is on the bottom; there are several places up on Broadway that can rebuff the CD and remove the scatch, or so they say. I can drop by on my way home tonight to check about price, just ping me to let me know if you're interested.

-Kevin
"We called it music."
— Eddie Condon

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nightowl
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#5 Post by nightowl » Mon Sep 13, 2004 3:08 pm

You can do the same thing at home with a soft cloth and some toothpaste... it works very well... needs to not be gritty though...

You can also use micromesh pads..

http://www.sisweb.com/micromesh/mmr_pads.htm

There is also an interesting discussion at

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/ind ... epair&st=0

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12bars
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#6 Post by 12bars » Tue Sep 14, 2004 6:58 pm

nose oil, like off you nose at the end of the day. its an old photographers trick for negitives. works on cds too and its free.

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Lawrence
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#7 Post by Lawrence » Wed Sep 15, 2004 9:33 am

12bars wrote:nose oil, like off you nose at the end of the day. its an old photographers trick for negitives. works on cds too and its free.


:shock: :shock: :shock: You gotta be kidding me! Makes a guy think twice about browsing through anyone's used CDs.
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GemZombie
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#8 Post by GemZombie » Wed Sep 15, 2004 10:09 am

Just a little body oils, ain't *that* nasty. Interesting Idea, i'll have to give that shot next time i have a scratched CD that I need to fix quickly.

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