by King Graham » Sat Oct 16, 2004 3:56 am
A CD is like a record. There are differently shaped grooves all over it. The laser reads the different-sized grooves, and translates it into information that the computer can understand.
According to Sony toothpaste does work:
"With scratches, it is not the actual data section of the disc that is damaged; it is the clear coating that protects the data section of the disc that has become damaged. Thus, the scratch is interfering with the path that the laser must travel through to get to the information. To fix this, you can repair the disc by either filling the scratch with an optical material, or polishing down the scratch to remove it. There are many commercial products designed to help you do this, but you can also use a polishing compound, or even toothpaste to get the trick done. Just make sure you do not create any new scratches while you remove the old ones by polishing in straight lines away from the center. Cracked or warped discs may damage a media playing/recording device. If a disc breaks inside of the unit, pieces are likely to strike the optics."