Subscribe by EmailHOW TO: Use a banana to fix a scratched CD or DVD
August 11, 2007 by Geeks are Sexy | 30 comments
A few weeks ago, we published an article describing several techniques to help you repair a scratched CD or DVD. Here’s another method to add to your arsenal in case the previous ones did not work for you. Please note that Amazon.com has a great CD repair machine right here that is pretty effective and not too expensive.
The Banana CD scratch remover
What you’ll need:
- A banana
- A banana peel
- Some glass cleaner
- Take a CD / DVD that has smudges and minor scratches on it.
- Using a circular motion, apply a freshly cut banana to it.
- Next, wipe it down with the banana peel. The wax from the peel will help polish and further clean the disk.
- Take a clean cotton cloth and wipe the entire surface of the CD / DVD. Be sure to apply moderate pressure while moving in a circular motion. This should be done for around 3 to 4 minutes.
- Finally, spray the disc with glass cleaner and wipe it clean.
Voilà! Your scratched CD or DVD should now look like new! Please note that this trick will also help you repair scratched PS2 and Xbox CD’s and DVD’s.
- HOW TO: Remove scratches from CDs and DVDs
- Blu-Ray Owns Hi-Def DVD Market Over HD-DVD
- HOW TO: Fix The Xbox 360 red ring of death
- HD-DVD: We hardly knew ye
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uh yeah….i just use auto wax/polish… since i have plenty, and it doesn’t waste any bananas.
geeks are sexy only to geeks
Well atleast they have one use, imo they taste yucky!
[...] any CDs or DVDs with minor scratches? You can repair them using a banana! Check out this post, complete with instructional video, at [Geeks Are Sexy] Technology [...]
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Cool!
p.s. Why Software Engineers Should Care About the Price of Bananas: http://urikalish.blogspot.com/2007/04/why-software-engineers-should-care.html
That’s pretty cool. We use a disc cleaner machine (JFJ disc repair unit) but maybe I will have to suggest bananas. Time to go green.. or yellow :p
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I thought you were never supposed to do wipe in that direction. I thought it was always wipe from center of disc outwards.
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I would not believe that before I saw an evidence.
I have to say I am unconvinced. When I started buying CDs I got told they would last forever and they’ve already started to degrade and the silvery bit in some is going golden. So will give this a try on some old disks and see what happens. Anyone know how to get scratches out of vinyl – or even better remove wax from them.
Why would you remove the wax? You’d have nothing left…er well…at least if you get wax records… you cant unscratch vinyl though. the needle goes right on the “data” surface so it’s the data that gets ruined. On a CD the data is farther back and just a layer of plastic gets messed up. Light might reflect funny from the plastic, but if you smooth out the plastic’s surface, it behaves normally again.
Ammonia removes wax.
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Eh got drunk and was pretending I was a superstar DJ by candle light with some friends and knocked a candle onto the turn table – tried ethyl alcohol, the freezer and numerous other things – wouldn’t generally mind would just replace but not been able to find it again for a reasonable price.
I think Charleton Heston actually discovered this method when he landed on the planet of the apes. :)
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[...] Use a banana to fix a scratched CD or DVD Here’s what you need:- A banana- Banana peel- Glass cleaner Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
Tried it… didn’t work that well.
I use a Disc go Devil for all the dvds that need to be polished in my video store.
Omg i have Just eaten the banana (forgot to use it)
I tried it on a busted netflix dvd that was completely unplayable, and the movie played the whole way through!!!!
THANKS.
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I was desperate to fix my Fable cd and i looked at this.
I tried toothpaste first, but that worked nicely too ^^.
A banana, though? o_O
Omg i have Just eaten the banana (forgot to use it)
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i do not really i any comment for now becouse i have not tried it yet
First thing I try is to see if OS X Disk Utility can make a disk image of the DVD. If yes, I just burn it to a new DVD and all is OK. In fact, if it’s something really precious, this is the first thing I do and just file the original.
I’ve only tried this with non-protected DVDs but it works almost every time. I am not sure why. Maybe the DVD drive in my computer is less sensitive to scratches than the one hooked up to my TV.
I suppose a protected DVD might need some ripping instead but I am not sure. I sure would try it though because all these remedies only buy time until it happens again. If you can get a disk image, you can burn a new copy any time you need it.
PS. the geeksaresexy.net girl make me weak in the knees.
Thanks! I just completely ruined a CD AND a banana.