Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 92
 Very good for cleaning and surface scratches May 10, 2005
Suzanne (PA)
36 out of 37 found this review helpful
I have used the DVD Doctor before using the Alera, and the Alera beats the DVD Doctor hands down. This will repair everything except for major scratches, data damage, and label side damage. I know of nothing that can repair data damage or label side damage.
It works great at repairing and cleaning the discs I have. Some of them get abused by my three young girls. They don't always take care of them as they should. It helped me to play a section on one disc that had a major scratch that the DVD doctor couldn't touch. I think there is data damage on that disc, sincee it was still skipping. It has deteroiated since.
The buffering part takes off a very thin layer off of the bottom of the CD that is only plastic. There is only so much that can be taken off before it will get to the data part. The wet poloshing I believe fills in some scratches so it helps the lazer go over those scratches smoothly to be able to read the data.
The people at Alera are smart. You can not just buy the cleaning or repair solution. You have to buy the kits whether or not you need to replace the wheels. The cleaning solution is Isopropanil#67-63-0, and the repair solution is Aluminum Oxide as labled directly on their containers. I have no idea where I can buy either solution by itself at larger quanities. That is my only complaint.
Tip: With the cleaning solution they have you fill the duel buffer up 80% with the cleaning solution. The solution will be absorbed by the buffers making the buffers wet. The problem I had was when I only did one or two discs at a time. The solution would dry out. If I kept using their instructions I would run out of solution extremely fast. What I did instead is put the solution directly on the buffers instead of filling the bottom. It used less solution, and worked just as well. The tip of my solution bottle either has a slit or is cracked, I can't figure out which. I make sure I our the solution the the slit facing away from the buffers.
I also found out the repair solution comes out fairly fast. I try to be careful not to squeeze the bottle. Keep the bottle upright until you are ready to put some of the cleaner on the buffer. Then be quick at tipping it down and back up quickly. To me it acts more like a liquid than a thicker substance I expected it to be.
 Not impressed so far November 6, 2004
tomh (Newton, MA United States)
27 out of 41 found this review helpful
I purchased this unit because my kids are tough on their game CDs -- they frequently don't put them away and sometimes a lot worse. A few won't play, or have errors somewhere in the middle, so I tried this product.
So far, it seems to have done nothing to actually fix any actual problems I have encountered. When it is done, even after following the procedure for "extreme" damage, you can still see most of the scratches on the disk. Perhaps my disks are more damaged than this unit can handle, but I guess I don't see the point of it if it cannot repair problems that are serious enough to actually cause a problem.
The unit has three "modes": buffing, repair and cleaning. It even has a serious repair mode (manual buffing). After buffing (a dry process), you can see light buffing marks in the surface; then after repairing (a wet process which uses a special compund), they are a little less obvious. I haven't tried cleaning. I think to resolve my problems, you would need a much more serious intervention than the Alera unit seems to accomplish.
Just my experience...
 Results may vary January 19, 2006
JChag (Louisiana)
27 out of 27 found this review helpful
This product does work. I was kind of skeptical because of all the bad reviews. I think alot of people expected it to fix a disc with one pass. I repaired one of my sons PS2 games that was severely scratched and would not load. I saved a game and the unit in a sense has paid for itself. However, it only gets three stars because of poor documentation and it took over two hours to repair. The disc needed multiple passes to fix.
The manual needs some explaining and I think this will help many of the customers who had negative feedback. First you need to understand what the different colored pads are for and what each process accomplishes. 1) The Pink pads do not buff. Lightly sanding is a better term. They remove material from the disc and it takes several passes to get out a deep scratch. 2) The Yellow pads do not repair in so many words. These polish the surface w/ the Aluminum Oxide compound. This helps fill in the fine swirls created w/ the Pink pads. 3) The Blue pads are just for cleaning. They clean fingerprints and smudges. Thats it.
Now for the application of these three steps. The repairing takes place with the first two sets of pads what the manual calls Buffing (pink) and Repairing (yellow). For any disc that is moderately to heavily scratched: 1) the first thing to do is Buff with the pink pads, 2) then Repair with the yellow pads. Now wipe off any excess residue with the cloth supplied. Then try the disc to see if it works. If it does your good to go and skip step three. If not, 3) then clean the disc with the blue pads and go back to step one. Repeat this process until your disc works. Like I said, two hours to fix one disc. Once your disc is working do not clean it with the blue pads. This will remove the Aluminum Oxide polish that helps fill in the scratches, like taking the wax off of your car. For a disc that is only lightly scratched, the repairing step with the yellow pads might be enough. I hope this will help.
Repairs discs to useable condition as described April 10, 2006
Sherri Lechten (St. Charles, MO USA)
25 out of 25 found this review helpful
With boys aged 2 & 3, and some poor disc storage procedures when I'm driving, it appeared I was in need of one of these units. Generally my toddler boys are not permitted to handle discs, but it occassionally happens, and doesn't take long for scratches, damage and finger prints to hinder performance, and when changing children's cds in the car I don't always store the disc properly and that leads to damage also. I read through a lot of reviews on this item and the skipdoctor products, and finally decided on this unit because it runs on a/c power, is fully contained and automatic, and was about $10 less expensive than the most equivalent skipdoctor unit. Both items had mixed reviews - mostly positive, but I found that most people who tried to make the units work and put in some time and effort were satisfied with both products. I'm very satisfied with my purchase it has repaired two discs that could not be played at all, and one that skipped.
This product repairs a disc to "useable" condition, it does not repair it so that scratches are not visible. I can still see, but not necessarily feel the scratches. It's also important to remember that some scratches do not affect performance. If a disc plays well, but shows scratches - I just clean off the finger prints with a cloth or use the unit to clean the disc and see if the performance is satisfactory before attempting a full repair.
I agree that the instructions with the unit could be better. I saved the instructions provided by another reviewer to use with the provided instructions for clarity. Also, some severely scratched and damaged discs do take many passes to repair, so I agree it is time consuming to acheive a full repair for some items - but it is possible. I noticed that I could cut down some of the repair time and solution usage by repeating the buffing/sanding (pink disc) process several times in a row for deeper scratches before using the repair. I ran one disc through 3 times in a row, then used the repair cream solution with yellow pads and it played fine. My lesser damaged disc only required one pass with the buffer and one with the repair until it worked great. I usually clean the disc (manually with the cloth or with the machine depending on severity of grime), then buff, then repair. It can be time consuming to repair a disc to functioning, but it does save the disc and my discs play like new despite the scratches that are still visable. I think this was good purchase and not overly complicated to use.
It really works! February 27, 2005
Grace Chang (Baltimore, MD)
23 out of 23 found this review helpful
This device works quite well. My husband is pretty hard on our CDs but the Alera actually did completely fix our most chewed up CD, though it did take 4 passes through the buff mode. The kit comes with two sets of repairing heads, and I ordered an extra set thinking most of our CDs would fall into the "repair" category, rather than the "major repair" (buff) category. It turned out that many of our CDs actually needed to go through the buffing procedure. Also, the repair heads are easily cleaned (with water and the brush provided) and re-usable, so in retrospect, I would have ordered an extra set of the buffing heads instead of the repairing heads. The Alera was definitely worth the money--quick and easy to use. (I can't imagine using one of the hand-crank types.) Surf a bit to get a good price with low shipping cost, and you'll be even happier.
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