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Memorex OptiFix actually fixed a DVD

I don't remember exactly when I found the Memorex OptiFix Pro CD/DVD repair kit, but I recall that I was browsing through the electronics at a thrift store where I almost never find useful electronics. At first I thought it was just a DVD player in a box, but when I pulled it out I was surprised to see that it was a DVD/CD repair device. Most simple electronics tend to be less than $10 at thrift stores, but this one was priced at $14.99 plus taxes. I thought it was probably a waste of money, but I hadn't seen one in stores before so I picked it up.


Over the past several months I've tried to repair approximately 6 discs in the unit, and only yesterday did I manage to "fix" a disc. I use the word fix lightly because the OptiFix didn't remove the scratches on the disc, but it did get the disc to the point that the Blu-ray drive in my computer was able to read the 3 titles on the DVD. Prior to the repair the disc was damaged to the point where the drive couldn't back up any of the titles on the disc, it simply spat out an error (MakeMKV).


I put the disc through two cycles of fix and clean before trying it in the Blu-ray drive. After each fix and clean I lightly wiped the disc with a microfibre cloth. As is evident from the image above the scratches were still pretty visible. Given my experience with past discs that had a lot fewer scratches I wasn't expecting the disc to work, but it did.

Normally I'm pretty careful checking DVDs when I go thrifting, but I overlooked this one disc, and luckily the OptiFix was able to fix it.

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