The Best Product to Clean and Repair CDs or DVDs: Memorex Optifix

The biggest problem with CDs and DVDs is that they become dirty and scratched so easily. I have two small children and they love to watch their favorite DVDs whenever they can. My children are able to get their own disks out of their respective cases and play and change them at will. Unfortunately because they are young the disks are often left covered with finger prints (sometimes chocolate fingerprints) and scratches. Quite often the DVDs would be appear to be scratched so badly that I would have to replace the movie all together. I knew there had to be a better way and that's when I found Optifix by Memorex.

The Kit

Memorex's Optifix Pro motorized CD/DVD cleaner and scratch repair kit comes with a motorized cleaning unit, an ac adapter (although it can run of 2 AA batteries), four pads (two for cleaning and two for repairing), cleaning solution and the repair solution.

To Clean

The kit comes with simple directions that are easy enough to follow. If you want to clean a smudged and dirty disk you open up the Optifix and place the appropriate pads inside. The pads are color coded yellow for clean and green for repair and come in individual pre-labeled bags. You add the appropriate amount of cleaner, 4 drops, to each pad. The cleaning solution has a consistency similar to water. While the bottle provided is quite small you should be able to clean up to 200 disks with what Memorex provides. You will place your disk into the Optifix shut the lid and hit the button that says clean. This motorized cleaner is surprisingly quiet. The directions will advise you to remove the disk after 2 minutes but Memorex's Optifix will actually turn itself off at the two minute mark. When you remove the disk there is sometimes a thin film that remains. This film can easily be wiped off with a clean dry cloth. What you are left with is a bright and shiny disk that plays like new.

To Repair

To repair a CD or DVD is similar to the cleaning process. Instead of using the yellow cleaning pads you'll use the green repair pads. The directions will tell you to place the pads into the Optifix, push down and rotate the pads until they click. From my experience these pads do not "click" but work all the same. Once the green pads are in place you'll add two drops of the repairing formula to just one of the pads. This formula is thick and resembles tree sap although it is not sticky. You'll shut the lid, press the repair button and wait. Once again the Optifix will run for approximately two minutes. Once the repair process is over you will need to run the cleaning process a final time.

While the Memorex Optifix has cleaned and repaired all of the CDs and DVDs that I tried it should be noted that the scratches on my disks were just surface scratches. Anything deeper than a surface scratch may be irreparable. You can purchase the Memorex Optifix at stores like Wal-Mart and Target for under $30.