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I have a DVD bought off of ebay. It's probably 20 years old, but never opened. It was a soccer-teaching video for kids that my girlfriend bought because she sta
by foobarbecue 4y ago
I have a DVD bought off of ebay. It's probably 20 years old, but never opened. It was a soccer-teaching video for kids that my girlfriend bought because she starred in it as a kid.
When we opened the package, we found that there are ~100 raised white spots on the surface of the disc, about 1mm diameter. They don't wipe off easily. We haven't been able to get the disc to play. I would love to know of a good way to clean these, and also what they are -- fungus hadn't occurred to me before but seems possible.
- codetrotter 4y agoTry using a piece of cloth, some water, and a little bit of dish washing soap
- Springtime 4y agoYeah, from what I've read from optical disc enthusiasts[1] isopropyl or plain dish soap with a cloth rag is suitable for cleaning. Anything that can cause abrasion like paper towels are best avoided. [1] http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/media/12002-maintenance-optical-media.html#post78502 http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/media/12002-maintenance-opti...
- neilv 4y agoBe careful with isopropyl. I've seen 70% or 91% poured over the print side of a movie DVD, causing it causing the printing to slough right off.
- twawaaay 4y agoFor what is worth I have successfully dealt with scratched CDs by applying a cream that I found to be almost the same refractive index as the plastic of the CD.
- nvrspyx 4y agoWhen I was young, I had a few scratched PS2 games that wouldn't play. Some advice on the internet was to put toothpaste on the CD, gently rub it in small circular motions around the CD with a paper towel, then rinse it off. Perhaps I'm misremembering, but I remember being surprised it worked for most of them. It might've been specific to PS2 games and whatever material they were made of and/or how they were pressed, so I wouldn't recommend it as general advice. This thread just reminded me of it.
- rzzzt 4y agoToothpaste is a mild abrasive, if the scratches weren't deep it removed them entirely.
- twawaaay 4y agoI still feel that a fluid that can fill the scratches and cause them to basically disappear is much better. If the CD is damaged the goal should really be to read the data once, then throw it away. So I think it is fine that the filling/oil/grease is one time only because I don't need it to work more than once. With toothpaste there are risks. There is the risk that the scratches are deeper. Not only you will not be able to polish it out, you can get toothpaste particles in there permanently. In any case, applying oil is just so much easier -- you only need to wipe the CD with it and then wipe the excess thoroughly.
- rzzzt 4y agoI've heard the same advice for treating light damage on an LCD screen. The deciding factor between using either method should indeed be the depth of the scratch (and how well you can estimate it).
- WalterBright 4y agoSometimes helmet grease works, too.
- rasz 4y agoArticle is about CD-Rs, afaik those used organic dye. DVD you bought sounds like pressed one = no organic materials. Whats more DVDs are build in a way where the data surface is sandwiched between two sealed polycarbonate platters.
- IIAOPSW 4y agoIt might help a lot if you could post a picture of it.
- foobarbecue 4y agoUpdate: rubbed a bit harder with some IPA and they came right off. Now I just have to find a working dvd drive. Edit: I did, and the disc works fine! Imaged and ripped it.
- metadat 4y agoWhat is IPA? Isopropyl alcohol?
- foobarbecue 4y agoYes. Sorry about that; got in the habit of using the abbreviation at work where we clean a lot of 3D-printed parts with it.