Remove Scratches from a CD/DVD with Vaseline (Petroleum Jelly)

Vaseline (Petroleum Jelly) can be used for chapped lips, dry skin, and for getting rid of head lice; but how about making CDs and DVDs readable again?  Well, it does that too.  There are also other ways to do this on the Instructables website, but I will show you the one that I believe works best.

Step 1 Materials

Before you start removing scratches from your CDs and DVDs, you should grab your materials.  To perform the directions in this Instructable, you will need  the following materials:

- Soft Cloth or Disc Cleaner/Repair
- Petroleum Jelly (Vaseline, Store Brand, etc.)
- Minor to severely scratched discs

Comments

[powerfool]

Instead of a cloth do you think I could use some pure cotton (eg. a cotton bud) to apply the vaseline locally where the scratches are? I only have two or three tiny marks, not even deep. Do you think cotton is ok?

[rockHERworld]

WELL EVERYBODY!!!!! CALM DOWN!!!! THERE IS A NEW WAY FOR ALL OF YOU WHOSE DISCS DIDNT WORK WITH THIS TREATMENT......... TRY THE BRASSO, AND GET A COTTON BALL AND GENTLY WIPE FROM CENTER AND WORK UR WAY OUTWORDS...(IF YOU WIPE IT IN A CIRCULAR MOTION IT WILL GET SCRATCHED) THEN WASH WITH A BABY WIPE.... IT WORKS ON ANYTHING THATS SCRATCHED...

[isaactheawesome]

i've tried everthing! toothpaste, a banana, peanut butter, and nothing! none of them worked and after i tried this it still did't work PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

[rockHERworld]

well, there is one more thing you can use..... try a light bulb...... DJ'S use it to heat the cd into working...... turn a lamp on-(but the light bulb has to be a 70 watt light bulb) put your finger in the center of the cd and rotate it slowly on top of the bulb. it will make your cd forcefully work again even if it is scratched... ur welcome!!!!(-:

[geekvig]

You can also use the following:

Peanut butter
Toothpaste
Banana
Metal polish

[gb123]

WTH? bananna?

[geekvig]

Yes. Banana.

[Solderguy]

The banana method saved my Halo 2 game. XD So, yes, banana.

[jsingh23]

The vitamin X 612 T5 in banana is useful.
You are spot on Solder.....

[jsingh23]

I tried it on my DVD. It worked absolutely fine..... Very very good suggestion. V cheap and best.

[GBoss13]

Thanks for the help! but another tip; use a little water when cleaning off the grease

[atonix]

I have the better idea than you have.
First, layer the CD with toothpaste. Then layer it with peanut butter. WIPE IT with tissue or soft cloth,you can use kitchen towel. Repeat the same process. Then dip it in the mixture of coke and soda for about 30 minutes. don't forget to shake. Then, Amazingly all the scratches of all types will be removed. This method works perfectly. For test, I had used a manually scrached CD scrached severly by rubbing it on cement surface. The result was far better than this messy valseline job.

[fuzz200]

This method saved my disc!!!

[icaraon pinoy pride]

ive done all of the steps but i still have alot of scratches but i still thought it was going to work but my wii didn't detect it ive done this like 6 times already please help!!!

[mhasanx]

Brasso metal polish will work, thats what professionals use, and it worked for me., its in a liquid form in a can.

[videogamemaster]

This doesn't work..... It just made my discs reaaaal greasy, and the Vaseline was really hard to get off.

[light man]

That's great,but will this method remove scratch's from a psp 1000 plastic screen?

[Shamus030]

 actually, you should go from the center of the CD out when wiping.  If you make a large circle along the perimeter, the CD reader will follow any microscopic scratches you make and screw the CD up.  By making outward strokes, any scratches you make will not affect the tracking of the CD.  This happened with my copy of ghostbusters, and whenever I got to the part where the giant marshmallow man came out, it tracked back to the opening clip.

[Human Being]

lol

[etaf7]

would this work for informational disks such as video games?

[caca1128]

I tried it and the scratches stayed there but there were less scratches.

[Ruettiger]

I always use plastic polish and follow that up with a very small amount of car wax. Of course you have to buy this stuff but it's like 4 bucks for the polish.

[xc1024]

 Does that make the laser lens dirty with that dead dinosaurs' jellified corpse? If it does, I wouldn't risk doing that. Maybe when I have a spare CD drive.

[ac-dc]

Wasted colorful comment.  You wipe off exess and the laser lens never touches the disc so the most problematic thing that might happen is due to the disc now being stickier, if you have a lot of dust in your optical drive you may need to pull the disc out and wipe all the gunk off then reapply vaseline.

However it would be prudent to use mild compressed air to clean out an optical drive beforehand, sometimes it is not only the disc at fault but a combination of factors including dust buildup (or other environmental pollutants like grease near a kitchen or smoke from a tobacco smoker) on the lens.

[xc1024]

 Yes, but then if I reapply the jelly, doesn't the disc get destroyed even more than it was before? I would assume that the jelly gradually reacts with the plastic on the disc and eats it away. Is that true or not?

[derranged-gadgeteer]

no.  Petroleum jelly is made up of very long, nonreactive hydrocarbons.  The atmosphere would be more corrosive to your disk than the Vaseline.

[codongolev]

I think it's more a matter of the petroleum jelly filling the cracks and allowing the laser to pass through again.

[drronnyallard]

I wouldn't imagine. I'm guessing that's why we're to let it sit overnight, then wipe it off... don't know, but I'm excited to try it today and I will let ya all know how it works for me!

[yaswanth.sagar]

you does not have that much capability to over night  sit and wipe today man

[wanwarlock]

first time commenting on here

this actually worked on my sons' Thomas the tank engine DVD! that saved me some $ and also for not doing any illegal downloading! heheh

thanks a million for this very easy (and works!) instructable!

[timothymh]

 Tell people NOT to rub in circles, as this can cause interference itself if the cloth rubs at all. Instead, rub perpendicular to the tracks on the disk (i.e. in -> out or vice versa).

[uncle frogy]

the only media that has any hope of lasting for ever and to be "readable" is stone or metal. every other media is subject to deterioration at different rates. It is not that the plastic will last it is it still readable there is a rate of "bit rot" that occurs that after a while makes the disk unreadable. The advantage of digital format over analog is that digital format does not deteriorate with copying, a copy of a copy of a copy is as good as the original.   
Thank you for the article anything that helps us retrieve our data and prevent it disappearing for ever is good. Once it is repaired I would recommend making 2 copies one on a HD and the other on a new optical disk.
backup the backups!

[clonaciano]

does this method works with video games?

[xc1024]

 It should work with all the CDs containing data, so yes.

[gpotvin]

yeah.  thats what inspired me to make the instructable. 

[dot communist]

anyone think this could work to take the scratches of a samsung eternity?

[MaXoR]

To answer pointedly... no. This is a grease like "Filler" method that will leave you with scratches in no time flat, and Vaseline on your hand and ear (I think that was a cell phone... right?)

You could try the pledge method, get some lemon pledge furniture wax (Try to find something that works well with wood grain... because it will be the clearest) and then put some tape over your buttons, and screen, to protect them from pledge (Waxy residue in those area's won't be good) and start spraying a fine coat on your phone. After it's sat for a minute, then wipe it off with a news paper, or paper towel. If you want to sit and rub really hard, you can use Kleenex tissues.

Hope that helps!

[RaNDoMLeiGH]

I just found some Pledge + Future floor wax. I got it for putting a shine on acrylic casts. Figured I'd give it a shot on a scratched CD... no dice. Just so ya know.

[RaNDoMLeiGH]

However... for a lightly scratched disc, Armor All worked fairly well.

[MaXoR]

If it's the screen.... well, you should have invested in those really inexpensive clear plastic covers you can buy, and they stick on sort of... it's actually suction, but w\e. As well, having a case for your phone will usually give a good 5mm of space between your screen and the surface it's sitting on, or even lets say some change in your pocket with your phone. Either way, cell phones are far too easy to scratch the screen, and that is why I live by those two suggestions.

I've had a LG rumor since they came out, and it's still perfect. I have the original screen plastic still on there, and no edges are coming up either. The case keeps the edges of that plastic cover from catching on anything. I keep my phone on me 24\7 in a side pocket on my jeans. It's been used a fair bit, dropped 12 times (From head height), fell in the pool once, and still works fine! In fact, the green plastic tape or w\e that is covering the buttons... only came off 4 months ago, and they were unprotected, just recessed in the case.

One downside was my camera lens.... but that's what you get for having it where it needs to be.