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Tiwaz · 03-13-2003, 09:10 AM

[quote="Coublacka_":70611]Put toothpaste on it and rub it in a circular motion with a toothbrush. I know it sounds like im trying to screw you over but it really works, i do it all the time.

But make sure the toothpaste is off before you put it in the drive, because this one time...[/quote:70611]

I also have done this lots of times. And this may seem silly: Very cheap toothpaste doesn't work as well as their more expensive couterparts. Why not? The word is sanding. Toothpaste sands off some of the plastic the CD is made of, thus removing tiny scratches. More expensive toothpaste is more granular (yes, expensive toothpaste cleans your teeth better as well). I don't know if it will work if you can't find any scratches. Sanding the entire CD seems useless to me, since scratches not visible to the naked eye will not affect playback/reading, normally.

Tip: When you try to rub out a scratch, don't rub it out completely. The plastic needs to have a certain thickness to make sure proper reflection does occur. Just smoothen it. Always rub from inner->outer and outer->inner of the disc. Doing otherwise may make the CD more difficult to read, since the laser reads the disc 'longitudinally' (in circles); damaging a large part of a track (track as in railway, not as in track 1, 2, etc.) is more serious than damaging multiple small parts of different tracks. There's no need for using lots of toothpaste, a small amount will do. Use a soft cloth. Happy rubbing.

	(#11)
Tiwaz is Offline Senior Member Posts: 637 Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Out	03-13-2003, 09:10 AM [quote="Coublacka_":70611]Put toothpaste on it and rub it in a circular motion with a toothbrush. I know it sounds like im trying to screw you over but it really works, i do it all the time. But make sure the toothpaste is off before you put it in the drive, because this one time...[/quote:70611] I also have done this lots of times. And this may seem silly: Very cheap toothpaste doesn't work as well as their more expensive couterparts. Why not? The word is sanding. Toothpaste sands off some of the plastic the CD is made of, thus removing tiny scratches. More expensive toothpaste is more granular (yes, expensive toothpaste cleans your teeth better as well). I don't know if it will work if you can't find any scratches. Sanding the entire CD seems useless to me, since scratches not visible to the naked eye will not affect playback/reading, normally. Tip: When you try to rub out a scratch, don't rub it out completely. The plastic needs to have a certain thickness to make sure proper reflection does occur. Just smoothen it. Always rub from inner->outer and outer->inner of the disc. Doing otherwise may make the CD more difficult to read, since the laser reads the disc 'longitudinally' (in circles); damaging a large part of a track (track as in railway, not as in track 1, 2, etc.) is more serious than damaging multiple small parts of different tracks. There's no need for using lots of toothpaste, a small amount will do. Use a soft cloth. Happy rubbing.