Revive old CDs & DVDs

Recently in my move to Morro Bay I found an old box with navigation supplies and a stack of CD’s from my 3rd Mate days, unfortunately they were scratched and the data (mostly voyage plans, sops, navigation programs…) seemed lost forever. Fortunately Gina over at my favorite tips for life site LifeHacker.com had the solution and IT WORKS! I’ll let her explain:

Last month we recommended using a little toothpaste for the same purpose, but I’ve heard a lot of CD repair gurus swear that Brasso works better for the toughest jobs. With the right polishing method (straight strokes from the center out) and a little elbow grease, hopefully your unreadable CDs will be as good as new.

You should feel the abrassiveness of the Brasso on the CD as you are [polishing]. If not, then use a different papertowel. The brasso is removing part of the plastic from the disc not adding to it. You are actually scraping away part of the CD which makes the existing scratches smaller. Read more…

The only negative… when a young AB complained about his scratched CD collection recently his reply to my tip was “What’s Brasso?”. Wrong question my friend. Needless to say he is now intimately familiar with the product and our ship’s bell has never looked better.

FYI – It also works on DVDs.

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