as promised, pics are up. i couldnt take the very very fine scratches on the cd, but there are some more obvious ones that you can see in the pic.

1) Scratched CD before sanding


2) Scratched CD before sanding 2 + sand paper used (2000grit 3m)


3) Begining wet sanding in my tub


4) Afer wet sanding....ewwww....did i screw it?


5) look carefully...did i really screw it?

6) Polishing compound, polishing cloth (used to be my guitar polishing cloth) and screwed up cd. more screwed up than before....oh well


7) a drop of polishing compound on the disc


8) polishing it in circular motion


9) Fixed CD view 1 (hard to see the scratches...but its gone for sure )


10) Fixed CD view 2......miracle...? now it plays fine in my player


conclusion:
depending on the pressure you apply during sanding, you might find that there are very very fine scratches on your end product, but the deeper uglier scratches are all gone. if you'r not satisfied with your sanding...go do it again until ur satisfied with it. ive sanded like 6 discs yesterday...apparently those back then looked alot nicer than the one that i just did here....anyway, im lazy to do it again...as long as it works...its fine to me

Cool bro, do u know where to get the Polishing compound? How much is that? Thx!

I've seen those polishing compound demo before, but I don't recall seeing any sanding process before the polishing compound is applied.

What's the purpose of sanding those cd before applying the compound ?

a simple idea, but effective. nice one, alamaklor!

I just know that scratched CD can be fixed >.<

good idea, but i'd say this reparing guide is applicable to those CDs which have skipping issues or are unreadable. if its still readable the best approach is to extract an image and burn a new copy.

"this is sure educating" quoted from kintaro in golden boy ....

hehe...btw, was wondering y u need to sand it first instead of wiping it wif soft and damp tissue...

benkyo benkyo benkyo !!! <-- dunno i spelled it correct o not

If you had used those compound before, you would notice that most deeper scratches couldn't be removed no matter how freaking hard you polish them. I borrow discs from library and they are badly abused....i mean...really badly abused...ill take a few pic of those that are nicely drawn with scratches next time and show u the magic of sandpaper + scratch fix combo. in case you didn't know how polishing compound is made of, they are actually made of microscopic rocks, the same thing on a sand paper. if you understand the purpose of multi-grit/stages sanding you should know that in order to sand deep scratches to flat and back to a scratch free mirror finish you would have to start off with rougher sandpaper and slowly goes to something smoother. CD's are delicate, you dont want to use anything beyond 2000grit seriously.....if the scratches are too deep, dry sanding with 2k grit will work, then wet sand it. if the scratches arent really deep, go right away with wet sanding

that's why there is a sand paper stage isn't it? the mod who is in charge of this forum seperated the beginning part of the guide which explains why I used the sandpaper before the scratch fix compound.

btw, scratches, eventhough minor, affects the original data....whether your ears could hear it or not is something questionable, ripping the image out won't solve the problem unless the scratches didn't make any audible difference.

hehe, i just use wax to fix those scratches and fine cloath, most scratch is just a normal light one. Not Deep scratch. Unless somebody throw it on the road tar surface.

Deep scratch need some sanding to even it out.

CAUTION: When sanding or waxing, make sure the cd is put on a smooth soft surface. U don't want to scratch those thin layer of foil off.

EAC would let you know whether the copy you made was exact

wou !!! only now i know that the scratched CD can be fix !!!
nice guide AlamakLor, thanks !!!

the above method gives me 99.9%/100% per track, unless the data part of the cd is already torn off.

alamak....nice guide here
thanks alamak for sharing it with us ..btw where to get the polish?mahal kah

the polishing compound that I'm using is from canada eh....i just went to a music store and saw it there, about 12 cad = RM36...gona stock up another bottle soon. 1 bottle will last you about 2 years...unless u use them extensively. you shold be able to find it in music stores, pasar malam, or pc fair.

how do you wet sand it witout.. uhh.. wetting the label/data side of the cd?

the reflective layer is coated with the label side right? if you wet the label side, there are chances trhat youre going to damage the reflective side...

no, and who told you that cd can't be wet with water?
if you are afraid that it would damage the cd, why don't you experiment it yourself and let us know if any of your cds get screwed up because they got wet?

they certainly did..

ive wetted a few of my cd rs before and the reflective side were ripped off..

that happened during the rain...

there`s always the quick fix using toothpaste ...

use car wax lor! everybody has it.

EDIT:I have done it on my mobilephone housing screen too.

This post has been edited by silllver: Apr 3 2005, 03:04 PM

i always wash my cd/vcd and dry it with smooth cloths/tissue...no problem....

how much was ur cdr? ive got many cdr's where its data film gets "watery" after some time and eventually went to heaven. I haven't encountered any cds that got screwed up because of me wetting it. If you are not comfortable in doing this...no worries, buy a new cd

i dunno why but CD-R is really easy to tear off the reflective thingy than normal CD...especially those cheapo grade,don even need a drop of water they already torn off after a few times of spinning in my ROM.

By the way, remember to clean all the wax u use to smooth the CD surface completely....if you don clean it well and they stain on your laser head...say bye bye to your optical drive

yeah. My 1st CD drive already kantoi because of this. Learn the lesson from the past..

eh i wan to ask if those cd scratch remover solvent in the market are scam ??? i got 1 cd tat need to be repair .... and i plan to buy yhose thing

read the whole thread, the answer is in there

i have trouble looking for 2000 grit sandpaper, any idea where to get em?

most hardware shops carry it. u can also get it from automobile shops

2000 grit sand paper very hard to find. Last time when preparing specimen for SEM, used 2000 then 4000 + polishing, the results--- totally good, although 4000 susah to find.

Just 1 question, how do toothpaste works?

I've read that Brasso metal polish works well.. recommend it highly.

what's the percentage of failure ?

got 4000grit kar? wah lau i didnt know

toothpaste? same as polishing compound, consist of a bunch of microscopic rocks that polishes your teeth.

metal polish.. on plastic? i dont think so

brasso metal polish for cleaning band brass instruments

really work arr? this way? If so, then i'll go start working it out!! sure arr... any chance of failing? cuz the cd that i'm gonna clean is an old game that is not really in the market already..

chances of failing very much depends ont he pressure that you apply on the disc. just sue 2k grit, wet sand the disc with lightest pressure. if it doesnt get rid of the main scratches, then do it again with more pressure. once u are comfortable with it, u will know what pressure to apply without screwing anything up.

there is another simple effective way too... if you can find methylated spirit... methylated spirit normally used for heavy duty cleaning, or in pharmaceutical preparation... apply on dry cloth, wipe over the disc... clean shiny surface..

This post has been edited by youngkies: May 22 2005, 05:06 AM

Lol, i just use COLGATE tooth paste and ISO BUSTER software and it works 98%, we always used it when our CDR disc unreadable.

Never used sandpaper, some sector (pit) will be destroyed if you do so.

dude, do u know where are they located on the disc? the bottom is just a piece of plastic, data is located on the top.

the ripping result with EAC is 99.9-100%.

Yes, but the "groove" results on scrubbing using sand papers will deflect laser light few degree bent off-set into the lens. There be 12% less accuracy when reading the pit.

what ever theory is correct, but.. as long as the trick is satisfy us, we can choose which solution is better. Many users do not know technically how the device works.. so if they find some method is usefull, it's just enough to give a try.

instead of throwing away the cd this method maybe can help..
maybe someone here got another solution?

good solution, tried on some of my cd's, it work! thanks

dude, how did you know there will be 12% inaccuracy? i mean, how do you know how much the index has changed as a result of sanding the disc? if there is inaccuracy, one would be able to detect it easily by comparing a rip that is prior to sanding and after sanding for differences. i did do the comparison before and apparently there is no audible difference, and the recorded result from eac is even better than before

can u guys post some pic of how to do it.... i realy didnt egt how this things works... if i able to do it.. no need backup mu faulty cd's

^ err dude, 1st page man, 1st page