CD recovery

[Beginner]

this showed up on a MAKE magazine rss feed:

http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive...C-0D6B48984890

Apparently you just polish with Brasso Metal Polish.

I found it very helpful for myself, I hope you find it helpful as well. I use CDs alot, not jump drives or other flash or hard disk based storage. I don't care if this makes me out of date. I didn't find any other posts on this subject, so I thought I'd pin it up here.

[bartek87]

This probably sounds like a stupid question, but will that work well on DVDs too? The data is more compressed and a different laser is used after all, so would it still be as effective? I was just wondering.

[CP99]

-edited-
Woops.

[klepto]

fastest way is to snap em in half.

[ghost]

yes but thats easier to recover and its not faster when you have multiple disks

[Voltage Spike]

Its been covered many many many times. Try searching before posting. But honestly the fastest and a fairly entertaining way to destroy the data on a dvd or cd...

Umm, did you read the linked article? Or the title of the thread? The subject of this discussion is repairing optical disks that are no longer usable.

The use of Brasso (a microabrasive) is one I hadn't considered, but it makes sense considering that I use it to clean the plastic screens of all my toys. I have often heard talk of using toothpaste to temporarily restore unreadable CDs, as well, but I have never attempted it.

[TheCotMan]

If you know someone who works at an optical lab that grinds polycarbonite lenses, they frequently have 2 special machines (one that applies a special liquid coating to the ground-side of the lense, and the other that shines a UV light on the lense to harden that coating) which can be used to varied results in repairing damaged CD or DVD. Optical labs will also, sometimes have slurry and special buffing/sanding tools that can be used to buff down scratches and make them less problematic.

On the other side, if you want to damage/destroy a CD/DVD, watch what happens when you spray acetone on the surface-- the last time I saw this, the CD "shattered" like glass where it was exposed to the acetone.

[Beginner]

bartek87, I have not tried it on DVDs yet, but it seems to work well on CDs.

Thank you Voltage Spike for getting things back on topic. I think their minds are still in data destruction mode.

[Thorn]

If you're every desperate for the data on badly scratched CD/DVD, make friends with someone at the local video rental store. They may be able to help.

Many video rental stores have a machiine that will repair DVD/CDs by grinding down the optical surface, and then repolishes it to a factory finish. There are two spindles that hold the disk, one for each part of the process. One of my clients own a small chain of video rental stores, and showed me his machine last year.

[Voltage Spike]

Many video rental stores have a machiine that will repair DVD/CDs by grinding down the optical surface, and then repolishes it to a factory finish.

I can probably guess the answer, but how does these compare to consumer products that operate in the same manner (such as SkipDr)?

[skroo]

I can probably guess the answer, but how does these compare to consumer products that operate in the same manner (such as SkipDr)?

In my experience, usually better. The Skip Doctor and similar have never once done anything for me except make the damage worse. Brasso has saved my ass more than once, though - particularly nice when you've got a CD that hasn't been in print since 1988 that suddenly decides that 16 years of abuse was enough...

[xXKelbaXx]

A common technique is to use toothpaste. I have first-hand experience, it does work.

[Thorn]

I can probably guess the answer, but how does these compare to consumer products that operate in the same manner (such as SkipDr)?

Quite honestly, I don't know since I've not used either product. What I can say is that my client say he repairs several disks each week, and some weeks its several per day. He's told me that scratched disks are a major issue in the rental business. So it would appear to work well. From what skroo is saying, it sounds like the SkipDr isn't worth the cash.

[astcell]

If I have a music CD that has issues, I think one can legally download the songs of off various servoces, or get a copy of the CD form a friend. You already paid the licensing. CDs are more frail than tapes!