Try a little polish !!

[Debbie]

A DVD with of a home made movie I produced some time ago for a friend would freeze and the player went on stop at about half way.

A close inspection of the media revealed an abresion just about at that spot. Since it was the only copy I decided to take a chance and polish the abresion with some fine car polish untill it has almost disappeared.

I put the DVD back into the player and it played like a charm.

Try a little polish before discarding a DVD, it could help.

Debbie

[Marshmallowman]

yep, thats always good for restoring imporant cd/dvd's...In fact you can actually buy a CD sanding kit for restoring scratched CD's

[wkulecz]

Only works if the scratch is on the "protective" reflective side. The top, non-reflective side is much more vulnerable -- if you scratch thru the "mirror" layer its game over.

--wally.

[Tjalfe]

I have had way more problems with the foil layer chipping off than with scratches on the plastic layer.. I use CD labels on my important CD's to protect them.

[wkulecz]

I gave up on CD labels after a few "warped" and pulled off the reflective layer. Maybe the labels have improved since then, but since they now cost more that the blank CDs do I don't bother with them.

For burned DVDs compatability is enough of a problem that I don't want to throw potential balance or thickness problems caused by labels into the mix. YMMV.

--wally.

[Nowhere]

And don't forget folks that you've heard here only about one of many our fascinating, yet not fully discovered, properties

[Debbie]

Yes I fully agree, if the reflective side on a CD is damaged the chances are that the media is usless. If the abrasion is on the plastic side of a CD or DVD it will be worth having a chance.

[Greebe]

Debbie (et al), use "makeup" (sculpting) sponges and some auto buffing compound to remove scratches. I took a small plastic "cheese" cutting board that's been sprayed with 3M Super 77 adhesive on a side and a thick piece of felt applied so I can buff the bajezzus from worst case senerios without worrying about damaging the label side. Works a peach and is cheap, cheap cheap