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 ...

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 ...

You can buy dedicated CD or DVD cleaning products, however instead of forking out for these, use white toothpaste or metal polish instead. Before you deal with the scratch, ensure the CD or DVD is ...

If you use audio CDs in your small business, a cracked CD doesn't necessarily mean that you've lost its contents forever: using a little ingenuity, you can repair the crack long enough for you to copy ...

This kit includes even less than the Allsop package, since it doesn't have a tray to hold your disc in place during cleaning. All you get is repair solution and two large, lint-free wipes. To fix ...

Everyone, and I do mean everyone that has owned a CD has come to the sad realization that one of their favorite or most important disks has somehow gotten scratched enough to hinder playback. So what ...

This kit comes at a bargain price, but you get what you pay for: It's good only for cleaning and fixing light scratches. The Allsop kit includes a square tray where you set the disc to be repaired, a ...

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 ...

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 ...