Repairing Dreamcast Games

>>3033220
Repaired hundreds of CDs/DVDs with one of those bad boys when I worked at a video store.

The only ones I couldn't get to work again were the obvious ones (huge scratches, cracks along the spindle-hole, stains, etc.)

>>3033220
The old game doctors were supposed to be used with fluid too. If your games didn't boot, you were using it wrong. It's like sharpening a knife with a whetstone: you're not supposed to just scrape it dry.

>>3033271
From my personal experience, these things are murder on discs. I had one of the discs I "repaired" explode in the drive while I was using it.

I promptly went out and found a place that has a professional resurfacer, that can put the protective layer back on.

>>3033220
Your DC is just fucked and you're too retarded to use backups instead of originals. That being said, commercial disc resurfacers. So do plenty of DIY methods.

I have heard accounts that, for some reason, DC discs do not always respond well to resurfacing, as in resurfacing one could make it not play at all.

I'd do some research before just jumping in. If the disc is scratched to hell and won't work in more than one DC console, then it wouldn't hurt to try since the disc is already fucked.

>>3033491
I guess I should've reread the OP since you already fucking said this. Regardless, yes, I too have read that resurfacing DC discs is a crapshoot.

Part of the problem with GD-ROM discs is that Yamaha surfaced and mastered discs with a different method than standard CDs or DVDs.

Originally it was done to deter pirates (lol that totally worked out) by only allowing standard PC drives to see the GD-disc as a CD.

You all should be using dreamshell and an SD card reader if you play a lot of DC games, make sure you have a dreamshell disc on GD-ROM to further ensure that your disc drive isn't getting overused.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U88IfMK_4HQ

>>3033491
They have denser pits to hold more data thus more susceptible to damage than standard cd-roms.

>>3033220
didn't these destroy discs? I remember the game store I hung out at was like FUCK THIS THING

>>3033662
Yes.

Disc resurfacing is shit in general since it removes any kind of protective layer there is on the CDs. Any "at home" resurfacer is trash.

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What about the toothpaste method?
I heard it was good but it was a long time ago in some bosnian forum, so I doubt it was properly vetted

>>3034000
It's used as a mild abrasive. Mostly just clickbait shit.

>>3033220
I was always scared to get one of those because I assumed they just ground the disc down. Was my assumption correct?

>>3033995
>i don't know how it works
So why post?

>>3033220
>Repairing corrupt discs

Not going to happen. Resurfacing may be able to help in the case of very minor scratches that haven't penetrated the data layer, but if any data sectors have become corrupt, there's simply no way to restore them. Optical media is solid-state. Once the data is gone, it's gone. You can't magically put it back.

Think of it like th is: You engrave a message onto a stone slab. Rain comes along and erodes said slab, degrading or erasing the engraved text. How is cleaning the slab going to put the text back?

>>3034393
Are you serious?

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>>3033501
no

>>3033220
I can't believe you guys don't know to use furniture polish (like Pledge) and a soft t-shirt in straight lines from center of disk to edge of disk

>>3033508
Yeah I suppose the "resolution" of the scratches left by the disc polisher is closer to the data density or something.

>>3034407
They're a lot more durable than you think. I've bought used games from my local game shop, like Bully on Wii for example, it kept having disc read errors. I brought it back and they put it through one of those resurfaces which filled in the scratches and now it works perfectly

OP here, your answers are all very much appreciated but have any of you actually tried the commercial resurfacers that fill in scratches so the laser can better access the data underneath on Dreamcast games so I know whether or not it will brick (coaster?) the disc entirely.

>>3033501
Why is it that the Dreamcast seems to attract an excess of people who have no fucking clue what they're saying and they say it as if it's the absolute truth? I hate you shit stabbers.

>>3034634
>>3034568
The "fill in" shit is just wax or epoxy. Once a CD is scratched it's fucked. If you really want to attempt to get it to read again then try it but as far as maintaining value it goes to basically nothing.

>>3034447
Totally serious my ignorant yougling. If you don't know how something works please don't post here. That's what /v/ is for. Millions of disc are working fine despite your bullshit claim that "it removes any kind of protective layer"

>>3035328
No shit it works dumbass. You still remove what ever protective layer there was. You also kill the value of the game.

Most of the professional resurfacers also use a wax or epoxy compound. Not something you want on a long term collectible.

>>3035352
No game discs have a protective layer, except blu-ray based discs.
It's just plastic, polycarbonate to be specific.
And all professional machines that I know of remove the scratches by removing some of that plastic, either by sanding or buffing pads.

>>3033285
Dude I buffed like two or three of them a day for nearly four years.

When I said hundreds, I didn't want to say thousands because hyperbole, but the truth is I've done it quite possibly thousands of times and it works almost always, excepting the few ones that were probably never going to have a chance to begin with.

>>3034634
The professional resurfacers will (almost always) not fix anything the hand-crank ones wouldn't. The only difference is that you don't end up with weird streaky lines on resurfaced discs, but if a disc is beyond the point where a buffer can fix it, it's highly, highly unlikely the resurfacer can save it - some discs are just fucked.

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>>3035365
This is what the vmi 3500a uses, along with an anti-static spray to buff discs.
The disc gets hot when it comes out of the buffing process, and lint can embed into the bottom of the disc if you don't clean out the machine often enough.
The pads seen to be made of flannel or a blend, possibly some cotton.

The only machine I've used that works and doesn’t make your disc look like shit after repair is the jfj easy pro.
Just be careful with the sanding discs or you'll need to buff the hell out of the disc afterwards to fix it.

>>3035365
>>3035368
You can debate the specific manufacturer process used in the CD/GD Roms.

You destroy the value when you resurface a CD game.

>>3035395
>You destroy the value when you resurface a CD game.

>game doesn't work
>resurface it
>game works
>value is lost

It's an optical disc, we're not botching Ecce Homo here.

>>3035395
What's the value of a scratched, non working disc?

>>3035414
>>3035417
If it's not working then you got nothing to lose. If you have minor scuffs it'll hurt the value.

Either way it's not going to bring like mint money. Unless you lie and hope to sell it to an ignorant person.

>>3035414

Uh, I think you're missing the point. You're shaving away a layer of the disc. The more you resurface it, the more damage you're doing. This subjects the data layer to a greater degree of exposure, reducing the longevity of the disc.

>>3033220
lol I had that fucking thing. I think I broke my record of lodoss war dvd with it.

>>3035435
You're the one missing the point. A broken disc has no longevity - it's broken.

>>3035430
I'm not the one who started going on about value, I'm the one who doesn't see how fixing a disc from "not working" to "working" is a bad thing. Also, you'd be an idiot to resurface under any other circumstance, so we're talking about minor scratches why, again?

Furthermore, why are we talking about reselling, the point of this particular conversation, both of you, is that OP wants to know if he can resurface his DC games, which I have done before, not whether or not OP is beholden to disclose that his discs are resurfaced and hurt his bottom line.

>>3035456
>Furthermore, why are we talking about reselling, the point of this particular conversation, both of you, is that OP wants to know if he can resurface his DC games, which I have done before, not whether or not OP is beholden to disclose that his discs are resurfaced and hurt his bottom line.
Because I've had a lot of problems with assholes selling resurfaced games "Like mint".

Bit of a personal problem for me.

>>3035462
So stop quoting me because I'm not fucking discussing that.

>>3033220
Have only ever brought my discs to a professional so when (see: IF. They never did) fuck up it was covered by them instead of my old dumbassery

>>3035352
>remove what ever protective layer there was
No you don't fucktard. Please stop making an ass of yourself. It hurts to watch.

>You also kill the value of the game
Game doesn't work: value=0
Fix game: value<0
kek

>>3035462
OP here, no I have no interest in selling them. My Dreamcast has just gotten a lot of use over the years so it just won't read some games even if they only have minor scratches at this point.

>>3035584
>kek
Consider an heroing, champ

>>3036078
Then keep posting your bullshit kid. I might laugh myself to death.