This self-contained unit ($25-$40) is about the size of a portable CD player and uses three sets of interchangeable plastic wheels that perform disc cleaning, basic repair polishing or heavy-duty polishing. You install the appropriate cleaning wheels, depending on the condition of the CD or DVD disc you want to repair. Once the wheels are installed, you click the "repair" button and the repair cycle runs on its own for about three minutes. If the repair wheels can't fix the problem, you can attack the damage with the heavy-duty pink buffing wheels.

So, does it actually work? You bet. The repair wheels completely fixed our beloved Bruce Springsteen Greatest Hits CD, which skipped badly on "The River." Our DVD of the charming movie The Station Agent, which was so badly scarred that it skipped to the next scene every couple of minutes, required the use of the buffing wheels. After one cleaning cycle with the pink buffing wheels and one cycle with the normal repair wheels, the DVD worked like new.

We've used the machine to fix several other damaged discs with great results. The manufacturer says the machine works on all CDs and DVDs, including video game, music, data and movie discs, but it can't repair deep scratches that reach the data layer or that damage the label side of the disc.

-- Todd R. Weiss

Lexar 1GB JumpDrive Mercury Flash Drive