Simo Tech ZDAG 101 CD/DVD Repair Machine Review

The ZDAG 101 is home disk repair machine manufactured by Simo Tech, a Taiwanese company. Having tried many ineffective home CD repair machines and kits in the past, such as the horrendously useless Skip Dr. products, I was certainly skeptical about purchasing the ZDAG 101. At $95.00 USD, the ZDAG 101 is priced significantly higher than the cheap disk repair solutions you'll find in retail stores yet far less expensive than professional resurfacing machines.

After reading a few positive testimonials, I decided to take the plunge and order one of these units for myself. In about a week, my ZDAG 101 had arrived and, despite my initial skepticism, I was blown away by how effective this little machine was at salvaging damaged CDs and DVDs.

What's in the Box

The ZDAG 101 comes with everything you'll need to start repairing your damaged disks. In the box, you'll find the machine itself and all its necessary accessories which include several sets of polishing pads, three different abrasive creams, shims necessary for slimmer disks or disks with no labels, disk cleaning spray, andtwo abrasive pads for "sanding" down deeply scratched disks.

How it Works

When the bottom of a CD or DVD gets scratched, the scratch is not actually in the portion of the disk containing the data; it's in the protective plastic layer that's under the label. The ZDAG 101 removes scratches from disks by basically rubbing away a very fine layer of this plastic thus removing the scratch and leaving the disk smooth and like new.

Does it Work?

Not only did this machine work, it worked far better than I ever expected. Games, movies, data disks, you name it, the ZDAG 101 was able to repair them all. Out of about 150 or so disks I've attempted to repair with this machine, I was able to salvage all but about 10, some of which were cracked or had label-side damage which the ZDAG 101 (and any professional resurfacing machine, for that matter) is unable to repair.

The company's website advertises that you will be able to restore CDs and DVDs to like new condition and, for the most part, if used correctly, this machine is certainly capable of doing do. The exception to this is disks which are so badly scratched that you must first used the abrasive pads to "sand" them down. I was still able to repair disks in this condition and they would play fine but was unable to completely remove some of the really deep scratches and fine scratches from the abrasive pads were still visible.

My only complaint about its functionality is the durability of the plastic top cover. After a few months use, the plastic hinge which connects the top to the base of the machine broke on my unit. It still works but it's mildly irritating to have to position the top back in place after opening it to insert a disk.

Ease of Use

Simo Tech's machine is fairly simple to use but I'll admit there is somewhat of a learning curve. Unlike professional machines, you can't just turn it on, insert a disk, and out pops a fully restored disk. Depending on how badly the disk is damaged, the process can involve rubbing the disk with the included abrasive pads, running it through several cycles in the machine and changing the polishing pads more than once per disk. It's not quite as automated as I'd prefer but once you get the hang of using the ZDAG 101, it'll take, on average, about 3 to 4 minutes to repair a CD or DVD.

Is it Worth the Money?

Absolutely. This machine has already saved me a few hundred dollars by salvaging otherwise useless disks and will continue to save me more. If you run out of supplies for the machine, you can order more from the company's site at very reasonable prices. Yes, its $95.00 price tag is double, perhaps even triple, the cost of most home disk repair machines but it differs from those machines in one key factor: It actually works!