If you've ever owned a CD or DVD, you've certainly had to deal with scratched up, unreadable media. Hardware Secrets has a simple solution: a scratched CD can be recovered by polishing its plastic ...

Clean the disc: cotton, alcohol, and… toothpaste? Start by cleaning the disc with a soft cotton cloth dampened in alcohol or a window-cleaning solution. Be sure to wipe the disc gently from the center ...

Dear Readers: Compact discs sound great, but they scratch so easily. However, don't toss a scratched CD until you try my homemade scratch remedy. Many scratches can be wiped away with ordinary white ...

I have a CD-ROM that is quite scratched (those nasty circular ones...the drive it was in must have been borked somehow). Needless to say, it won't read past a certain point so I need to find out if I ...

I don't put my CDs or DVDs up after I use them typically. I tend to stack them in a pile on my desk or on the shelf behind my desk. I guess the kids learned the same thing from me since they tend to ...

There's hope for all the mistreated, abused and worn-out CDs of the world. They can be salvaged, those nagging pops, clicks, skips and scratches repaired, by a little gadget called the SkipDoctor by ...

Dear Billy: Compact discs can scratch easily, but the good news is that many scratches can be wiped away with ordinary white toothpaste. Gels won't work -- just plain, white toothpaste. Squeeze a ...

This article was taken from the February 2011 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands ...