Possible way to resurect problem data DVD

The story,
Wife got an Acer Ferrari 4k in 2005. Installed W7 in place of XP a few years back. Just bought her a new MSI laptop and installed the W7 instead of 8.
Figured might as well restore the XP in the Acer. Found the original restore discs and got started. Kept going part way through setup and then locked up (not always in the same spot) and refused to complete. I saw the outline of Casper on the screen and although I am not a great fan of Symantec I respect Ghost and figured it should work. Actually tried a counted five times, wiping and formatting each time with Partition Wizard.
DVD's had no visible marks on them and had been in their jackets for the past nine years. Anyhow I picked up a paper towel like you use in the kitchen and scrubbed the discs dry. Did not use any cleaner but really put a bit of pressure and polished like you would wax a car.
The rest of the story,
Started over again and restore went 100%. Never missed a beat. The only reason I can think of is possibly the disc surface can oxidize?
Hope this might help someone rescue a disc one day

Art.