You may be searching to find out whether it is actually true that using toothpaste can save your CD media. The short answer is YES!
I broke a game disk for an xbox 360 when I tipped it up on its side (while the disk was still running). The all too deadly (scratched ring of Doom) on the bottom of the disk made me think it was a bit dead!
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However, I decided that I had not much to lose and thought I’d try the toothpaste myth. It worked… and heres how you do it:
1. Get some toothpaste (not Gel)
2. Wet a T shirt or cloth and squirt some toothpaste on it (a big blob)
3. Rub vigorously in big circles (starting from the center and working your way around to the outside)
Note: You have to go quite hard on it. Don’t worry, as long as your not snapping it, its probably not breaking.
4. You will need to repeat steps 2 + 3 for quite some time. If your a bit puny, its not going to be at all fast!
5. If you need to (I had to). Finish it with something more abrasive such as T-Cut, used to getting scratches off car paintwork.
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Heres how it works (including the worst that could happen through using this method).
Your CD Media is basically made of layers of plastic. A few layers under this plastic is the part where the CD holds data for the lasers in your disk player to scan it.
When your CD is scratched, the laser readers receive inaccurate and corrupted information from the disk. This is because the laser’s light is being sent along the jagged and broken path that the scratch created, instead of in a straight line to the data.
Now hopefully your following me.. When the disk is scratched, its usually not going to be extremely deep (unless you’ve really messed up!) This means that its only scratched the plastic and not the surface where the data is held. If it has got to the part where your data sits, then your a bit stuffed really. You probably won’t be able to tell this, so just try rubbing out the scratch.
After the scratch is rubbed out, the laser will be able to read the data properly again and it should work!
The worst that can happen when you try using toothpaste or T Cut to rub out the scratch is you get through to the part where the data sits. In which case, your CD media was already dead before you started! So really, the worst that can happen is you get a dead arm afterwards!
An alternative is to give the CD to somewhere like game (or there’s online companies), for them to try and do it.
Right then, good luck… I’m off to eat some chicken
i never heard of this method. i’ve thrown out a few games in the past year because they got scratched so badly from clumsy mistakes
i’ll try this next time.
This method works. I’ve been doing it for 4+ years now.
it made it worse!!
I’m sorry to hear that RAWR. This method has been successful for many people, but it is never the less an experimental approach. Could you explain what went wrong? Or how it made matters worse?
Maybe others can draw something from your experience.
my game got busted up like dat 2
my bro used toothpaste 2
its working thanks
Er, I don’t think it helped at all o.O
My Xbox 360 scratched Grand Theft Auto IV because I accidentally bumped it(Hey, it was off ebay, no warning sticker. I didn’t know >_>) and it made a scratch following the groove, then when I tried this, there were more smaller scratches! Ah well. Can’t really fix that one scratch though anyway. Or would this fix it?
This method might well be able to get it fixed. You give it to a games shop and all they will do is polish the surface in the same way (admittedly they probably have something more glamorous than toothpaste). Your disk is basically a piece of plastic with data right at the centre. As long as the scratch hasn’t got through to that your fine, but the only way to find out is to get the scratch out and see.
Your little scratches may mean your rubbing it too slowly and possibly not hard enough. However it may also be the cloth your using, try to find a softer cloth with less rough fibers. Lastly, try a different toothpaste.
Just remember that its toothpaste and may take quite a while
this puts millions of scratches on the cd!! Yet, it makes it playable… try it only if you want to play your game, but it has a ton of scratches, plays fine though.
I’ve never tried this method myself. however, as I understand it, Gel does not work, and most toothpaste these days have little crystals in them that help clean your teeth. However, this does not work so well on the disc. Try it out with white toothpaste WITHOUT crystals. Make sure it is PASTE and not GEL. And don’t use warm water, as that could warp the disc or damage the data.
Again, I’m not sure if this actually works or not, as I have not tried it myself, but that is the basic understanding I have gotten from reading about it on several sites.