Fix Scratched DVDs with Toothpaste
Today I made the mistake of moving my Xbox 360 while I was playing a game. The only thing worse than the grinding sound that this made were the scratches that ended up on the DVD, making my game unplayable.
Basically a DVD is a thin strip of foil behind a layer of plastic. Unless you get a really deep scratch that reaches the foil, the data stored on the DVD is not damaged and buffing out the scratches may fix your DVD.
I did some searching online for free ways to fix scratches. Jewelry cleaner was often suggested but not something that I owned. Toothpaste was another method, which (much to the appreciate of friends and co-workers) I do own.
I took a Q-tip, put a small amount of toothpaste on it, and ran it under some water. I then proceeded to slowly and softly rub the Q-tip on the scratched areas of the DVD. After I had done all the damaged areas on the DVD, I washed the toothpaste off with a light stream of water, using my thumb to help. I then repeated this entire process a second time. Finally I dried off the DVD with a soft cloth.
Much to my delight, my game now works once again. The scratches are still visible, but much less noticeable. The toothpaste also created many small scratches (giving the disc a cloudy sort of look) but were not deep enough to cause any problems reading the data.
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