how do you remove scratches from ps1 games?

I need some general help on knowing how to clean scratches off game cds, preferably ps1 games. I have an old game that my sister bought maybe, 10 years ago from an video rental store that went out of business then. The game hasn't been used too much but it has gained some scratches over the years. Otherwise, I don't see what else could be wrong with it. For some reason, my ps2 won't read the disc at all, so I'm thinking that the scratches need to be cleaned off.

We have this crappy disc cleaner that does more damage than good. You're basically supposed to put a small amount of this scratch cleaning "cream" onto the scratches on the back of the disc(NOT the side that has the game label on it). Unfortunately, when we wipe it with the...I don't know what they're called, but they're made of some soft material(kind of like a paper towel) for a certain amount of time, the cream doesn't even get the scratches off. Instead, it smears all over the back of the disc and no matter how hard you clean the stuff it doesn't come off.

Basically, how the hell do I clean these scratches off? I have a friend who said that toothpaste makes a good cleaning material(for cds, I don't know if that's true :S) to remove scratches but I'm not going to try that quite just yet, at least if it's an availabe option. Now I've used toothpaste on my glasses before(to remove scratches) and it actually worked! But I don't know if it would work on discs. I need other options, maybe of common household items that could remove these scratches. I'm too lazy to go out and buy any disc repair kit cause it won't fix anything properly. Also, if toothpaste does work, only white toothpaste would work wouldn't it?

Thanks for the inspiration Rylus. My PS1 and PS2 went caput a while back. Computers have come a long way. I was looking through my PS1 collection and ran into this post. It made my day :)Cherub_Rock

No problem. :D If you have a high end PC you can even get some PS2 games to run at full speed. You don't even have to make backups of your CD's or anything if you configure it right!

I need some general help on knowing how to clean scratches off game cds, preferably ps1 games. I have an old game that my sister bought maybe, 10 years ago from an video rental store that went out of business then. The game hasn't been used too much but it has gained some scratches over the years. Otherwise, I don't see what else could be wrong with it. For some reason, my ps2 won't read the disc at all, so I'm thinking that the scratches need to be cleaned off.

We have this crappy disc cleaner that does more damage than good. You're basically supposed to put a small amount of this scratch cleaning "cream" onto the scratches on the back of the disc(NOT the side that has the game label on it). Unfortunately, when we wipe it with the...I don't know what they're called, but they're made of some soft material(kind of like a paper towel) for a certain amount of time, the cream doesn't even get the scratches off. Instead, it smears all over the back of the disc and no matter how hard you clean the stuff it doesn't come off.

Basically, how the hell do I clean these scratches off? I have a friend who said that toothpaste makes a good cleaning material(for cds, I don't know if that's true :S) to remove scratches but I'm not going to try that quite just yet, at least if it's an availabe option. Now I've used toothpaste on my glasses before(to remove scratches) and it actually worked! But I don't know if it would work on discs. I need other options, maybe of common household items that could remove these scratches. I'm too lazy to go out and buy any disc repair kit cause it won't fix anything properly. Also, if toothpaste does work, only white toothpaste would work wouldn't it?

toxic_jackal

try and find a videogame store or video rental store in your area that has the disk cleaning machines, that is your only option.

dont try the tooth paste method because that is just an urban legend, not only could it make it worse, but it could scratch the lens of your game system.

the tooth paste method it is just like the cream stuff you are using, once you get the tooth paste on, it will smear.