Old Cds...

[Falci]

Most of my really old cds are now very dirty on the read side. They're not screched but this "dirty" makes then very difficult to run.

It's a kind of white thing, a little sticky. I just couldn't figure out how to remove it.

It's like old finger prints became solid and "glued" to the cd. (And I guess most of the white comes from finger prints...)

Anyone knows how to remove this?

[Looney]

I just use an old T-Shirt to clean mine... I use it dry. Have you tryed any of the CD cleanners?

[Falci]

The thing just won't come out... with the dry shirt. But I may try the cd cleaner, if I manage to find one.

[Looney]

It's best to use the CD cleaning fluids you can buy... there are many cleaners that will damage the CD... Try a little mild dish soap with warm (Not hot) water.

[x0563511]

Resurface the CD. There are lots of gizmos out there - i got one that takes off .2 mm off of the CD, and them buffs and polishes it. Works like a charm - the disk LOOKS nasty, but from the perspective of the laser, its crystal clear. Takes out minor scratches in one go also (deeper ones may take more, or even some manual labor. be VERY careful if you do it manually... i wont even tell you what you need to do that.

[Doom_Dude]

I bought a CD cleaning kit and have used it on numerous CD's and DVD's and it works great. I've not ever seen this white sticky fingerprint junkage you mentioned tho.

[x0563511]

Ive seen it once. It was weird - the dust and oil had combined to form this plastery/gluey substance that bonded with the disk surface. Looked like a waterstain on a car kinda. Resurfacing took it right out.

[Looney]

I have seen those CD resurfacing things.... I was wondering if they really did do as promised.

[x0563511]

Yep. There not quite as magical as they advertise though. Most scratches that make it skip nowdays (nice error correction algorithims) need a few runs. BUT for cases where there are lots of tiny scratches it works like a charm.


I accedently gouged my Quake2 CD with a flatblade screwdriver once (dont ask) - after a good 15 runs it was as good as new! Note that i gouged the armored side, not the label (data) side. And again, the disk surface looks ugly after you do it, but the laser reads right through it.

[CtrlKeyEmAll]

Make a copy...put away the original. Hehe should be easy, if you can make a copy that is.

[Looney]

Make a copy!...Put away the original! Hehe easy.

Untill you put that CD in to play the game and it keeps telling you to insert the CD. :P It's called Copyright Protection.

[Aliotroph?]

Install no-CD crack. That's what they're for, although I suppose once again they're technically illegal only in America. Curse the DMCA!

[The Undertaker]

Untill you put that CD in to play the game and it keeps telling you to insert the CD
A little alcohol (http://www.alcohol-soft.com) well fix that. Well actually its a lot, 120% to be exact.