Extreme CD Repair

This method is the most extremely effective way on bringing back unreadable and heavily scratched CD's but a word of CAUTION! it is also the most risky and dangerous!

You need the following to begin with.

1. A Gas Stove
2. Cotton Towel
3. Pot with 2 inch of water.
4. Fork.

Step 1: Position the fork into the CD.

You need to insert the two tooth of the fork into the center of the CD.
Make sure that the fork doesn't change the CD's contour too much, and it must be straight and even.

Comments

[zidakano]

If your old enough to remember magazines that came with cd content warped discs were a common problem boiling them really does work at getting them to read. I've never tried a gas flame to refinish a scratched cd though so I can't comment there.

[roop263]

will this work for pc games????

[Propellerpowered]

Two dollars at a lot of video rental places will get you a resurfaced CD.
I've tried a ton of techniques and this seems doubtful for success.

[dariel24]

i do think it WILL repair the CD after reading jessifu's comment down there. but maybe after boiling the CD, wait for it to cool down cus' taking it straight away when the water still boiled may bent the cd..... someone aggree? ps: i'm not yet trying this instructable at home for financial and health safety..... lol

[dariel24]

oh... or maybe try boiling it only. (without open flame heating) boiling it will still melt the polymer into its original shape isn't it?

[Ganoderma]

The flame is meant to melt the bottom layer (the one that is scratched)
The boiling is to return the discs original shape.

The boiling wont fix your scratches if I understand how this works (I didn't try it since it's been quite a while since I had scratched discs)

[Buskieboy]

This is a joke right?  Maybe you can "dry" it in a microwave after too?
:D

I know we can flag comments, but how do you flag a whole instructable?
This should be removed before too many, um, challenged people try this.

[eXtremeSomething]

looooooooooooooooooolllllll that will work

[ilpug]

No, it isn't a joke. This works, although not very often. This really doesn't need to be flagged. Nowhere near as bad as some instructables. At leas this one won't kill you.

[4lifenerdfighter]

What are some worse ones?

[Tkdwn]

Tnx for a grate idea! Here is my version.http://www.instructables.com/id/HOT-AIR-CD-REPAIR/ :P And for all unbelievers out there: Yes it works, I even put an video on my instructable.

[Tkdwn]

And just to be clear, i don't cook the CD's, i will try the cooking when I eventually mess one up :)

[killajones]

Try toothpaste to remove the Vista melts.

[ashishasa]

yes it's work....

[BALO77]

or as I like to call him : SUPER VILLANO

[BALO77]

WELL, HIS USER NAME IS .....supervillain!!!!!

[videogamemaster]

Wow. That's desperation for you. I just use lotion.

[Danixoldier]

Thanks! this help me alot :D

[ch4zl33]

I tried this on my windows vista CD and you ruined it. It just melted the CD. thanks a lot.

[cybercoho72]

it is more like u ruined it u are the one who tried this method so it is your fault. so look in the mirror before u point fingers.

[bounty1012]

Well, there was a disclaimer before doing this, and you should've known better to cook your CD over a flame...

[basketball is life]

haha. this comment made me laugh for like 5 minutes

[ashishasa]

me toooo HAHAHAH !!!!

[nobodysfool]

Technically YOU ruined it.

[Davvik]

Why would you WANT to fix a vista cd?

[jj.inc]

+1

[gamerguy314]

like sumplesnoob said, why in the hell are you going to use a CD that you are going to use again for your FIRST TIME TRYING? thats just plain dumb. when doing an instructable like this don't use something you really need -.-

[Gamernotnerd]

Think of it as a good thing. Now you never have to commit suicide due to mental trauma from vista - Vista owner.

[chibiturtleboi]

Vista isn't that bad as long as you have a good bit of memory. Most people only make jokes about Vista because it's become such a widespread thing. Xp is great but vista is good as well

[TheRealDutchOwner]

No, Vista sucks. 4GB isn't enough? Vista is a BSOD-filled piece of garbage. Windows 7 and 8 beat Vista, so does XP.

[sumplesnoob]

First of all, why didn't you try it on a CD that doesn't cost over 100 dollars before the Vista CD? Second of all, if you were reading this tutorial, your CD was ruind in the first place. Don't blame this on people that try to help.

[gruda]

 it actually kinda worked for me, but I did it as a last resort and I practiced with blanks first.

[youhurtmehbrain]

I tried this... and it warped my cd just SLIGHTLY, so being the rocket scientist genius I am, I decided to try and bend it back with my hands. I snapped the cd clean in half. Fail.... do you have a repair tip to put it back together? :(

[basketball is life]

lol fail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh and on putting the disk back together i suggest using elmers glue.

[Gage987]

everybody says this dosent work or its dangerous it works because you remelt the bottom of the cd getting the scratches out permanantly and if you have a brain you should be able to do this

[vandal1138]

Or how about this? Everyone use common sense! If you feel the need to do this, its your fault for screwing your cd's up. The system works for the guy who wrote this. If it doesn't for you then blame yourself, not him.

[neumanngregor]

lol if you got scrached cd/dvd's there is a kit for repairing scrached displays of GSM phones, clean the disc with WHITE alcohol and use a cooton pice of cloth to GENTILEY wipe the surface, then use the kit's fluids/tools AS IN THE TOOLS INSTRUCTION OF USE on your disc.

[US.Marine9_11]

This is borderline bogus. If you heat a cd in one place or entirely without a press, it will deform (warp) and there's no way to fix it. Also, to get it to that point, you have about a 90% risk of disconnecting the film from the top side. I bought my first Sony cd player for my car in 1986 and due to the outrageous prices of compact discs, I learned how to repair my own cd's. I started out with extremely fine grit wet/dry (auto body) sand paper, but now I've graduated to using my Dremil tool. I use a fine buffer pad, A LOT of patience and the ultra fine polishing creme (greene stick) that I got from Lowe's (Home Depot or Marvin's). It does take plenty of time because it's a really slow process if you don't want to destroy the cd. With the price of games for PS 2/3 and X-Box/360, it's well worth the time.

[hadtotry]

Ok, my sons xbox 360 game was ruined. Tried every other fix so this was worth a shot. I used an electric stove top since I don't have gas and figured it just needed heat. I left it above the burner a second too long and the inner plastic melted and fell off my fork onto the burner. (Wish I would have used tongs.) I have to say that the scratches were gone on the areas that didn't touch burner! This method probably works. Advice for those who might give it a try: practice on a CD you don't care about and use tongs.

[junits15]

does this actully work?