I washed a Verbatim dvd+r because it was slightly dusty (quickly under running lukewarm water with a drop of dishwashing liquid rubbed very gently over the surface with my fingertip) then lightly blotted dry with a microfiber cloth. Upon examining the surface of the dye side, there appear to be many little "scratches" all over, it sort of looks like the dye is damaged. The disc plays fine though. I have noticed this phenomena with some stamped commercial discs I've washed as well. As an experiment, I washed an old Sony cd-r and aggressively blotted it with the cloth, there were no "scratches" , I'm wondering if perhaps dishwashing detergent is too strong and is somehow etching or damaging the polycarbonate dvd surface.

Wow, I'm glad those discs still play for you. I've read here that you can clean discs by using a small amount of lukewarm, soapy water, gently rubbing the written side with your finger, then drying with a very soft material-like a cotton tee shirt, or those non abrasive eyeglass cloths.
But holding under running water sounds a bit too much for me, but who knows? You just might be on to something.

There are, of course, commercial products for cleaning DVDs. I don't use those. I wouldn't recommend dish washing liquid, or any strong detergents, or anything with abrasives. Some paper towels can be abrasive, too.

I use Sparkle glass cleaner. It is a gentle glycol cleaner that will not damage, or cloud, plastics. Spray a little on a soft paper towel, and wipe in a motion radiating out from the center. NEVER use glass cleaners, or anything else, with ammonia, or chlorine, as these will cloud plastic, eventually, if not right away.

I washed a few DVD-RAM discs using a small amount of Dawn dish washing detergent & tap water and gently rubbed with a fingertip. I used my little finger because it was the softest. If you have rough fingertips they could have scratched the disc. I rinsed under room temperature running tap water & gently dried with a microfiber cloth. It's difficult to see scratches on the RAM disc due to the pattern, but none were obvious. There was an older thread about washing problem RAM discs which is why I did it. And my problem disc now works.

Remember that even the softest paper towels are made of wood, not the softest material that may be used on a DVD.

The above method (mentioned by Mike 99) has worked on several problem recordable discs for me also.

Just remember when wiping the discs not to wipe radially around the disc but instead out from or in toward the center. The last thing you want is a scratch that runs parallel with the data.

For microfiber cloths that have seamed edges, I usually trim those off first.

I put mine in my Whirlpool discwasher.

http://i35.tinypic.com/b906b.jpg

^^^ priceless if that is a personal picture you just took can i use that in a presentation?

ROFL my ass off!!! :D :D :D

wajo, :)

^^^ priceless if that is a personal picture you just took can i use that in a presentation?

Looks like I took it May 2007 (was some kind of experiment on disc cleaning, IIRC). Looking for the hi-res and sure, you can use it!

(edit- don't think I saved the original full-res pic).

Awesome!!! I am sure the guys at work will get a kick out of it. We are a bunch of media recovery specialists.

I need to dig up that old thread (if it was here).

Taiyo Yuden silvertop DVD and CD media fared the best.

Just remember when wiping the discs not to wipe radially around the disc but instead out from or in toward the center. The last thing you want is a scratch that runs parallel with the data.

Wiping "radially" IS wiping from the center out, or from the outside edge in, as if on a radius of the circle. Circular wiping, which would parallel the data, is what you want to avoid. I realize you know how to wipe, you just messed up the terminology... :D