There are few things as irritating as a scratched PS2 disc. No, that is not quite correct. There is nothing in the world as infuriating or disappointing as a scratches PS2 disc. In fact I can’t think of anything else that puts quite the cramp in my day as a scratched disc.
What really sucks is that half the time the scratch does not reveal itself until you have put several hours into the game, and you have reached the cut scene everyone has been talking about. Then bam, the machine freezes up. Now as this happens you are thinking, it can’t be a scratch, I am sure that it is just a small bug that will work itself out after I reload from my last save
However as we all know this is a vain hope at best. In fact now the problem isn’t so much figuring out what the problem is. It is figuring out how to fix scratched PS2 games.
Image by Icky Pic via Flickr
Luckily other people have had problems with scratched discs long before the PS2 and so technology is available to fix a scratched disc. The problem is that not all technology is created equal and there is a chance that any particular scratch repair machine is not going to be able to do the job.
So you have a couple of options. The first, to got to a local electronics store and buy one of the scratch repair machines. The problem you have here is that most of the time the ones that are available are either cheap and worthless, or cost more money than you realistically want to spend. So now that buying your own may or may not be feasible what other option is there?
You can always go to a video game store and see if they offer the service. As a matter of fact most of these stores do offer this service. They even offer it for free. However they in no way guarantee the game. So you can trust that the guy behind the counter knows what he is doing and won’t destroy your disc, or you can fork over some serious cash for your own. Either way a scratched PS2 disc is a serious problem. Go figure.
this was very informing but it really didnt help me.
but um ive tried toothpaste till somebody told me that you had to use plain white toothpaste and not the blue gel toothpaste! 
well um somebody else said peanut butter but i dont think im going to try that either… 
thank you for the blog though! 
ive got ratchet and clank locked and loaded and i was really getting into the game and suddenly it keeps redoing the sme thing. i don’t want to buy a machine as they r expensive most the time and the cheap ones don’t work
i went to a shop and the man put my disk into a machine but it came out shiny but wen i went to play it it did the sme thing as b4.
i went on youtube and got sum tips like toothpaste, peanut butter, coke and drills but none work i cnt find a shop that sells a game i want so i’m lost and completely hopeless HELP !!!!
I’m trying to find a free way to repair my NHL 08. The scratches were my fault, as I punched the hell out of my PS2 after losing a game, forgetting the game was inside. I took the game out and saw four very large scratches on it.
ummmmm do you know what type of stores have it
hey i have sims 2 and my dumb ass little sister scrtched the hell out of it and i’ve used the tooth paste thing and nothing really worked are there any other tips
Try taking it to your local gaming store. Most of them have a buffing machine these days
never trust game sotp when buyig used games cuz they say it works but it does not work
i,ve got ratchet and clank 3 and when i play it just flies around got any tips
we go a game from the a$$holes at gsmestop but it didnt work it was for my sister so i used dishsoap and water and then it worked just fine. but i have a bigger issue my test drive game wolnt work ive tried soap and water tooth paste and nothing works anyone got any tips?
Dude get this i was playing “God of war 2″ that i traded for one of my old ps 1 games so anyway i was kicking a$$ with Kraito when it got to a scene where this guy was in a pool trying to escape his punisment he was walking and talking when suddenly half way down a flight of stairs this walking talking guy just froze i thought my ps2 had just been played for to long so the next day i tried again same thing happend so i looked at the disc the guy that traded me it ripped me off and scratched the f#^k out of it i tell you what i tried six different kinds of toothepaste that night not one worked that made me explode so please help me what do i do now
here is what you do. it might not work, so what the hell try it. you get a tube of toothpaste, and your disk. rub the toothpaste around the back side of the disk in a circular motion and wait 15 minutes for it to harden. in 15 minutes put the disk under warm water until the toothpaste is gone and wait for it to dry. if it doesnt work retry the method. if not take it to a store and see if they could repair it or get scratch removal.
good luck. hope it works