Despite the emergence of a number of portable media that serve to store large amounts of information, CDs are still considered one of the most persistent and reliable in the designated group. They are less prone to causeless damage, but are not protected from physical influences and, as a result, mechanical damage. A couple of scratches on the surface of the CD are enough for the media to stop working correctly or read at all, “burying” a significant part of the data important to the user.
But you should not despair: the chance to repair the equipment remains. For this, there are special commercial kits for sale and a lot of tips on the Web designed to help restore the disk to its original condition.
CD / DVD preparation
Before removing scratches from the disk, its surface should be cleaned of dust and fingerprints, since it was the dirt that could become the root cause of the breakdown.
There are several ways to do this:
- Using non-abrasive products.
- Carefully wipe the heavily soiled media with a soft cloth.
- Hold under a stream of warm water.
After shaking off the water from the CD, you need to dry it by putting it on a paper towel without getting wet. This is done in order to understand the extent of damage: if the depth of damage reaches the metal layer, the carrier can no longer be saved on its own.
Troubleshooting CD / DVD surfaces
It is possible to cope with this task at home, the main thing is to know how. It is easy to remove scratches from the disk; for this, various household products are used - from petroleum jelly to toothpaste.
Waxing with a polish, car wax, or other creamy texture will work well when the polycarbonate coating shows signs of severe wear. In this case, the carrier is covered by one of the listed means, the excess of which is then removed with a lint-free cloth. This method will help temporarily, since it does not contribute to the removal of defects, but only fills the scuffs. After its successful use, a backup copy of the information from the damaged CD should be made, the further use of which will remain in doubt.
The following technique (how to remove scratches from a disc with toothpaste) is very simple. It consists in polishing the upper layer of the CD, thins it and thereby reduces the depth of damage. It is worth resorting to it at the very last moment, if more sparing options have not worked.
It is advisable to use a paste based on baking soda as the most effective. The substance is applied to a smooth cloth (a napkin for glasses is suitable) and with its help they are distributed along the scratch perpendicular to the digital tracks. This will protect the carrier from the appearance of new, more dangerous flaws.
In this way, it will take about 2-5 minutes to polish the disc, then the paste is carefully washed off under warm water and the CD is allowed to dry on its own.
Both methods are equally effective in combating the described task (how to remove scratches from the Xbox).
Damage on CD for Xbox
If you find a defect on the disk for the game console, you should make sure that it was not her who caused the problem. Xbox sometimes has a similar flaw, and if it was purchased recently, there is a chance that unsuitable media will be replaced with a new one in technical support.
If exchange and redress is not possible, then the main methods, how to remove scratches from the Xbox 360, are already described previously using toothpaste or polish.
Caring for portable media
The best way to solve the problem is to prevent its occurrence. To postpone the collision with the question of how to remove scratches from the disk, it should be provided with proper operating conditions:
- Severe contamination must be cleaned with specialized tools, with gentle movements in the direction from the central hole to the edge of the CD. In no case should you wipe the surface of the disc in a circle - this creates a risk of data loss.
- Keep media away from direct sunlight in a folder for CD / DVD. This method will provide fragile disks with the proper level of security and take up a minimum of space.
- You need to remove the media from the optical drive by holding it by the edges or inner ring.
By following these instructions, the user will protect himself from unexpected loss of information and, perhaps, he will never run into the problem of how to remove scratches from the disk.