Fixing unreadable DVD, BR Disks, The next step.
Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2025 9:06 am
I have been ripping and converting my large collection of movies at TV shows for the last 6 weeks. I ended up with a stack of about 100 disks that are scratched, too dirty or pitted enough that they cannot be ripped to digital format.
I am not ready to claim that this will be a fix all but so far I am having great success.
I started with DVDs that are in the middle of a TV series that were giving too many errors to keep going but would suck to leave them out and try to figure out where they go later on. Each had light scratches and were full of tiny pock marks which prevented them from being read correctly. Some of these were years or decades old dicks.
Wiping them with a cleaning cloth and eye glass cleaner would not fix them so it was time for the next step.
I purchased an automotive cordless 24V paint polisher with multiple polishing disks including a thick flat sponge. This is what I have been using.
I placed it in a vice face up on my workbench.
I add a few drops of Meguiar's M11032 Mirror Glaze Ultra Pro Speed Compound and spread it around with a cotton swap.
I then spend about 5 minutes slowly turning the disk around polishing the surface holding it with a latex glove. I tried it shorter but it failed.
Then the polish is wiped off and it is cleaned well before trying again.
So far I have fixed 8 DVDs and 2 BR that were unreadable and now have been successfully ripped. I have 1 BR that was too scratched that I am trying to wet sand 3000 to 10000 grit to see if I can get that one to work.
It would completely suck to have one disk in a series that would ruin the whole show.
I will post an update as I try to fix more of these unreadable disks.
I am not ready to claim that this will be a fix all but so far I am having great success.
I started with DVDs that are in the middle of a TV series that were giving too many errors to keep going but would suck to leave them out and try to figure out where they go later on. Each had light scratches and were full of tiny pock marks which prevented them from being read correctly. Some of these were years or decades old dicks.
Wiping them with a cleaning cloth and eye glass cleaner would not fix them so it was time for the next step.
I purchased an automotive cordless 24V paint polisher with multiple polishing disks including a thick flat sponge. This is what I have been using.
I placed it in a vice face up on my workbench.
I add a few drops of Meguiar's M11032 Mirror Glaze Ultra Pro Speed Compound and spread it around with a cotton swap.
I then spend about 5 minutes slowly turning the disk around polishing the surface holding it with a latex glove. I tried it shorter but it failed.
Then the polish is wiped off and it is cleaned well before trying again.
So far I have fixed 8 DVDs and 2 BR that were unreadable and now have been successfully ripped. I have 1 BR that was too scratched that I am trying to wet sand 3000 to 10000 grit to see if I can get that one to work.
It would completely suck to have one disk in a series that would ruin the whole show.
I will post an update as I try to fix more of these unreadable disks.