Disc doctors

[Nick Schovitz]

I was wondering here if anyone has tried a disc doctor before and do they really repair yiour discs? because I have plenty of games that are broken that I wish to play again, slight scrathces can ruin the game and I need something to fix them.

[SoulTaker*]

I havent used a disk docter before, but I find that toothpaste works fine on slightly damaged disks. From my understanding, as long as the data deep in the disk isnt damaged the disk will play, most of the time it is just the top lining of plastic thats damaged, which keeps the eye from reading the data underneath. If you polish down the scratches with toothpaste the eye will be able to get past it to the data.

[Shoeberto]

Toothpaste method, yo. I've only typed this about a billion times now, so I'll quote myself from an older thread.

Those things are crap.

You want a good way to fix scratched CDs? A cheap one? Use toothpaste. I've used this on multiple CDs, like my disc 2 of Xenogears, and it went from locking up at a certain point to playing all the way through with no problems.

What you do is take a non-gel toothpaste (this is critical, as gel toothpastes don't have a gritty texture to them), and apply just a dab on a tissue or washcloth. Then, apply it to your CD, going from the inside of the disc outward. Don't go in circles on the disc, since that doesn't do anything. Go from the inside to the outside until you've gotten then entire surface of the disc, then wash off all of the toothpaste and dry it. Usually, when I'm drying, I just dab it with a towel, rather than trying to rub it down and potentially damage it further.

It may seem a little ridiculous, but it does work. Essentially what you're doing is removing a layer off of the disc, and evening the surface out so that your reader doesn't skip when it reaches the point of the scratch. That's why you need a toothpaste with a gritty texture, and also why you go from the inside-out rather than going with the grain of the disc.

[RSL]

I have a disc doctor and it does work. It, like the toothpaste method, removes a layer of the disc, resurfacing it basically. If the scratches are really deep, you're out of luck.

However, if the toothepaste method does the same exact thing, it's probably recommended that you try that first as it would definitely be cheaper!

[Yamaneko]

It's actually a lot worse to scratch a CD from the label side since the pits are located closer to that side of the disc. The first few layers of plastic near the clear side are used for protection anyway.

[Nick Schovitz]

Toothpaste really, what kind of toothpaste isn't gel?

[Shoeberto]

Non-gel toothpaste.

Anything that isn't translucent, basically. Gel toothpaste doesn't have the grit that normal toothpaste has.

[Dreddz]

The toothpaste does work, I fixed Leons disc on RE2 doing that. Disc doctors do work I have heard, but I have never used one. Im generally gentle with my discs.

[Nick Schovitz]

does Crest or Colgate make that kind I think mines are gel is Crest gel, can I use that?

[SoulTaker*]

Just rub it between your fingers, if it has a grainy texture you can use it.

[Nick Schovitz]

Okay I've must've did something wrong because it now says disc read Error. Ahhhh my head!!!!!!!!11

[Dreddz]

ahhh good ol DRE's
I think you must've done something wrong with that toothpaste you used, thats only if you have just gotten DRE's with that game or any other for that matter. If you get DRE's all the time, there's a method that can get rid of these, but ya know, only us ghosts and ghouls know of it.....

[Mirage]

I find disc doctors to work, as long as the scratches aren't too deep. It won't work if the scratch is on the label side of the disc though. All hope is lost then.

[Slothy]

Yeah disc Doctors work very well, and are rather idiot proof, so if you screwed up the toothpaste method some how, you may want to consider trying one. If you're prone to having discs get minor scratches then it might be a worthwhile investment. If the scratches are very deep though, nothing will fix it.