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Scratched Xbox 360 Discs and Laser Burn

The Xbox 360 games console has developed a bad reputation for damaging game discs when the machine is moved or subjected to strong vibrations when it is switched on. In this article we take a look at what effect this has on your Xbox 360 game disc and what can be done to repair it if it becomes damaged in this way.

How Do Xbox 360 Discs Become Damaged?

There are several ways your Xbox 360 game disc can become damaged. Firstly, most discs develop light surface marks overtime when they are repeatedly taken in and out of a game case. This type of damage very rarely causes any playback problems.

Secondly, if a game is not properly cared for then it may develop heavier scratches, some of which may even prevent the disc from playing. Last but not least your disc may become scratched should you accidently move your Xbox 360 console when it is switched on. This is commonly referred to as ‘Laser Burn' by gamers.

What Is Laser Burn?

The term ‘laser burn' is actually very misleading. If you knock over your Xbox 360 console while playinga game, your laser doesn't actually ‘burn' the disc. Instead the lens of your laser comes into physical contact with the disc as it is spinning and creates a circular scratch around the entire disc. Therefore the damage caused is actually a radial or circular scratch rather than genuine laser burn which is completely different.

Can Scratched Discs Be Repaired?

Yes. Xbox 360 discs can be professionally repaired with a disc repair machine, regardless of whether they have light surface marks or heavy circular scratches. The machines work by grinding away a very precise amount of the shiny side of your Xbox 360 disc. This will not damage your Xbox 360 game as your discs data layer is covered by a thick layer of polycarbonate.

Ironically, the shiny polycarbonate is intended to protect your discs data but when it becomes scratched it can actually prevent playback. Therefore by removing any scratches from this layer you also remove any obstacles blocking the laser from reading the data.

Polishing The Disc

Once enough of the polycarbonate layer has been removed your disc will be polished. This stage is very important as only grinding the disc, while typically addressing playback problems, leaves the disc looking in worse condition than it started, with heavy radial and/or sanding marks.

Some low cost disc repair solutions either clean or grind the disc, they rarely do both and when they do the results are often unimpressive. The calibre of machine needed to perform high quality disc repairs can cost hundreds, if not thousands of pounds to buy.

Therefore if you only have a few discs to repair at a time, it may be worth using a professional disc repair service. That way you can be assured of getting a high quality, like new finish for your favourite video game every time.

About the Author

Discs Like New offers a professional Xbox 360 Disc Repair Service.

HOW CAN I MAKE A SCRATCHED DISC WORK?

yeah, I have a ps1 game that I would really like to play, however, it doesn't work and there is no video game store in town that'll still remove the scratches for ps1 games. Also buying a new one costs 45 dollars. How can I get the disc to work? Can I just remove or sand the front of the disc ( where the name and info is) and just play on the other side?

polish it with car wax

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 at 10:00 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.