How to Fix a Scratched Disc

First, it's important to understand the extent of the damage. Light scratches and tiny scratches can often be fixed at home, while deeper ones often penetrate the top layer of the plastic discs where the data is stored, and may be beyond repair.

To assess the damage, hold the disc up to a light source. If you can see light through the scratch, the disc may be irreparably damaged. If you are unable to see any light shine through the other side, it may be fixable.

Before you attempt to fix the scratched surface, it's important to clean it to remove any dust, fingerprints, or grim that could affect playback.

Once you're sure the surface layer is clean, set out to repair it using one of the following methods.

As you may have seen on YouTube or equivalent, the banana method uses the natural oils of a banana to help fill in the scratches and restore functionality.

To do it, just cut a slice of a ripe banana, rub it on the scratched cd, then clean the disk by removing the banana residue with a soft cloth followed by a bit of glass cleaner [source: YouTube].

Restore veterans prefer the good old standby of automotive grade rubbing compound, such as from 3M [source: 3M]. Admittedly, 3M polish is not necessarily a green product, it is after all synthetic in its basic composition, but you will need only a dab and quite frankly, there is no natural product that will even come close to the power of this stuff when it comes to resurfacing deep or multiple scratches.

The experts tell you to always polish in a straight line from the radius of the center to the outside, rather than polish in a circular motion. While this is good advice for the most part, since small circular scratches have been known to throw off the laser tracking system of a player, most tracking systems today are far superior to the ones you remember from the 90's. So, if you are willing to let the rubbing compound breakdown to its final stages, circle polishing can work well too.

When we refer to letting the rubbing compound breakdown, we're saying the rubbing compound formula essentially contains a grit that is designed to scratch the surface you are polishing, and wear down the deeper scratches until they are closer to the same height as the rest of the CD. It does this by starting out with a heavy grit, which breaks down over the polishing course into finer and finer grit, until it eventually leaves a mirror polished surface. But this is only if you put enough elbow grease into it.

Many find that circular polishing works just as well as radius polishing, but you can follow whatever advice you like, as this is simply a matter of opinion and personal experience. But what if you need to fix a CD right away and don't want to travel out to your nearest store to grab a bottle of polish, in such a case, toothpaste works reasonably well too.

Toothpaste is designed much the same way as a rubbing compound, in that it is manufactured with a gritty substance, which gently scratches the enamel on the teeth, to clean and polish them. It can offer your CDs the same service, albeit not to quite the extend as the polish, but if the scratches are not too bad, it may just do the job.

Start with the most simple toothpaste you can find, like Tom's of Maine Natural Toothpaste as it contains a basic enamel polish, without all the fancy gels, swirls, glitter, and bubble gum flavors [Source: Tom's]. All you want is a good old fashioned white toothpaste. There is no need for frills here. Squeeze a smidgen of paste on the CD and rub it in using a straight sweeping motion with your finger from the center radius of the CD to the outside. Work your way around the CD using this motion until the CD is completely covered with a thin layer of the toothpaste.

If the CD is badly scratched, you may want to rub the toothpaste around the radius of the circle several times. Once finished, let the toothpaste dry to the touch. Hold the CD under your sink with running water and gently rub the tooth paste off. When satisfied with the cleanliness of the CD, gently dry it with a clean, soft cloth.

It is not a bad idea to put a coat of car wax on the CD (if you have some available). Many prefer using an all natural 100% carnauba wax, which is made from the outside surface of a leaf [source: Oppido]. It is super strong and also friendly towards the environment.

It will first of all, help fill-in any remaining deep scratches, second, protect the CD from being scratched in the future, and third, help repel any future dust and dirt from finding its way onto your newly cleaned and resurfaced CD.

Your CD should be good to play after all this hard work. If not, you can try the entire process once more and hope for better results. Scratched discs can often be fixed with a bit of patience and the right strategy.

Whether's it's a DIY fix like the above methods, or a professional resurfacing, it's possible to bring most discs back to life. Remember, the key to disc longevity is proper care and handling to prevent scratches from occurring in the first place.