A family in my congregation recently suffered a fire in their home.
Although the direct damage from flames and water was limited primarily
to one room, the smook and soot damage throughout the house is
extensive.

They have been told that it's possible to clean and recover digital
discs (if not their paper packaging and booklets), provided that the
discs have not warped or suffered other physical damage. It was
suggested that some sort of ultrasonic cleaner would be best for this.
They've asked me to do some legwork for them, since their Internet
access (and time!) is limited right now.

So, my question is essentially: "What is the best way to salvage
smoke-damaged CDs or DVDs?"

I believe the family is primarily concerned with prerecorded discs -
but if the approach differs for recordable discs, that information
would be very helpful, too.

Thanks in advance - I'll relay any responses I get to the family.

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Clarification of Question by pastorbob-ga on 04 Jan 2006 23:50 PST

Sorry - it's late. I believe the damage was due to "smoke" and not "smook". =)

pastorbob...

If the discs are only smoke-damaged, it's quite possible
that the soot will wash off. It's quite safe to wash a 
CD or DVD using a mild dish soap and a cloth that won't
scratch them, and rinse them off under mildly warm water.

The data is safe under a relatively thick layer of plastic,
and you can wash this plastic as you would a plastic cup.


If there are scratches in the surface, which might interfere
with the optics of a laser's ability to read the data, or
if the heat somehow caused smoke or soot particulates to
bond with the surface of the discs (the unlabelled side,
particularly), then, since there is a fairly thick layer
of plastic before the data layer, even scratches as severe
as those which might be caused by gouging a disc with a 
screwdriver can be repaired, as long as the data layer is
still intact, which is almost always the case.

This is best accomplished by some high-tech mild abrading
machines, followed by gradually finer abrasion such that
the last step polishes the surface to that equal to a new
disc.

There are companies which allow you to mail discs to them
and the price per disc depends on the amount you send.

Azurdisc is such a company which has been around for years,
and their pricing structure is on this page:
http://www.azuradisc.com/publ/services/pricing_complete_us.htm

You can learn more about defects and repair on this page:
http://www.azuradisc.com/publ/library/education.htm

I know about this company because I investigated it as a 
small business opportunity.


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sublime1-ga

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Clarification of Answer by sublime1-ga on 05 Jan 2006 00:46 PST

pastorbob...

I meant to add that there are a variety of do-it-yourself
products on the market which offer the promise of restoring
a limited number of discs. One of the most common is the
SkipDoctor repair kit, for about $25, as well as the similar
products listed at the bottom of this page from Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005B9W6/practicalpcon-20/103-8802030-1739064

If you read the reviews, you may soon realize that the number
of discs repaired vs the cost of the unit, along with the
potential to ruin a disc as the unit wears out, make it a
safer bet to mail the discs out to a professional.

I just thought you should know all the options before you
decide.

sublime1-ga