Reading a cracked CD

[TechMD]

i took it out of the drive 2 look @ it and it looked a little bent/warped. i tried 2 play w/it and it cracked from the middle out. it is still in one piece though. i have some information that a CD repair kit might work. i just want to get the data that isn't on the crack off of the CD...i'm not holding my breath though...

[Avid6eek]

What information is saved to a CD, HD, or anthing else files don't save in "spots" on the CD. One file is spread to thousands of different places on the CD. When you decide you want a file, the CD ROM puts all those pieces back together for you and you've got your file back. There will be no information on the rest of the CD you can recover. There are most likely little pieces of every file on the the cracked portion of the cd. Even if you could get it to run correctly, the CD will skip. It's the same as like music CDs. It'll get to a certain spot and just get stuck and won't even get a chance to look at the whole CD. I'm pretty sure CD's save information from the inside out, so that makes your objective even more pointless being as how that is where the crack is, and the cd is gonna get stuck on the first track.

[TechMD]

anybody know how 2 trick a CD-ROM or CD-RW into reading a cracked CD? the crack extends out from the center (very bad i know)...

[Dude]

You may want to think twice about putting it in the CD-ROM. If it comes apart in the drive you may be looking for a new CD-ROM drive too. I had a CD that wouldn't read, it came out still spinning when I ejected it. I couldn't grab it fast enough, went spinning across the floor at warp speed. After it bounced off the wall and stopped I chucked it in the circular filing cabinet.

[Avid6eek]

Do not put that CD into your CD drive. Perfectly good CD's have been known to shatter into thousands of pieces in high speed drives, so your drive, no matter what the speed, is very likely to destroy that CD and itself if you put it in and try to use it.

[Dude]

Just put some of the handyman's secret weapon on it! "Duct tape"<BR>Just kidding <b>don't</b> do it!! <BR>Even if you put it in an old 2X CD-ROM so it didn't self district, I doubt you could can read it with the crack in it anyway.

[Iceman]

I doubt very much that you will be able to read it so there is no point in sacrificing any driver however crap. What I want to know is how you actually managed to crack a CD so severely!!

[Dude]

The cd is written and read from the center out. The file location info would be first. And like Shiznit stated the files could be scattered about the cd in random order. Your chances of reading anything are pretty slim while the chances of destroying your CD-ROM drive are very high. I know it's tempting but I don't think it's worth the risk. Mail it to somebody you don't like <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> <BR>

[TechMD]

has anyone ever used cd repair paste w/any positive results? i saw some in the store and it has been suggested as a possible solution...

[Assimilator87]

Wow. I didn't know the chances of ruining the CD-ROM drive was so high. I broke my SC Broodwar disc a while back. It was also cracked from the center all the way out. I scotch taped the crack and put some tape on the other side to balance the wight and tried it a few times. I guess I was lucky nothing happened, whew...

[DivinePoptart]

my friend was playing diablo two and all of a sudden... KABOOOMM!!!!!

[mmcduff]

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE YOUR OWN CD DRIVE...<BR><BR>there are people who do that kind of stuff for you with big expensive machines, and do stuff like recovering HD info. go search on www.ontrack.com if you are willing to pay something like 100 bucks for recovery of data, im not sure that it would be worth it.

[TechMD]

i may try the scotch tape...<BR><BR>how about the paste though, anybody ever try it?<BR><BR>

[mmcduff]

even if it does READ the cd, which it probably wont and you risk ruining your CD drive, it will not read it correctly and i'm willing to bet windows wont even OPEN it. There are certain programs that you can get to recover data from bad disks. I still wouldnt try it

[Assimilator87]

I'd listen to these guys TechMD, they know what they're doin.

[TechMD]

has anyone tried the paste w/any success? that's what i want to know. replacing a CD-ROM or CD-RW is no big deal from a cost perspective...

[DivinePoptart]

Damn dude, how important is this CD to you? Porn? Government info? making you go through all this trouble... I wouldn't try paste.. if you think about it, since it's a cracked CD (btw, is it like, completely in half?), ur drive would run harder trying to read it, thus causing the paste to become soft or even melt, so if anything, I wouldn't try paste... same goes for scotch tape. A thing about the scotch tape idea btw, if it's a cracked cd, it usually means that the information place (the shiny thing covering the cd) can be easily taken off... if you put scotch tape on it and it doesn't work... removing it might cause a bigger problem.

[TechMD]

i guess no one has used the paste. your scenario is a bit off. that's like suggesting glue will not hold once it is dry because you put it somewhere that will get pulled, like a cup handle...<BR><BR>

[DeLaguna]

Personally I would use a strong clear tape on the top non read side spanning the crack, and a strong thin clear tape around the hole in the center, where there is no data on read and non read side, possibly crazy glue on the very edge of the cd spanning the crack and on the inside around the hole on the non read side glueing the crack together DO NOT use crazy glue accelerator, you got nothing to lose, however don't use it in a nice cd rom of course because if you haven't doe it right it may become the equivalent of a nija star. then use isobuster to try to recover the data. hope this helps. by the way I am a computer tech, if you need more help pm me ciao

[NotMyBest2Day]

I have a CD that I hadn't ripped yet and it had a crack from the centre to about halfway through track 5, and the computer couldn't read it in digital mode, and it was iffy for analogue (like you'd get from a real CD player), but four CD-ROM's later, and I got the first five tracks ripped, and there's no pops or skips. The rest of the 21 tracks ripped digital at 24-37x.

My current DVD±RW drive and AudioGrabber v.1.83 with LAME Encoder will read through most of the label/foil scratches and tiny holes and such. About 95% of the time, you can't tell there was one.

[Dizzious]

I'm pretty sure paste isnt for repairing cracks. i've ever seen any meant for that at least. the pastes i've used (with little to no success) are meant to be buffed on the surface of the disc to remove scratches... not so much for cracks.
clear tape might be your best bet, but i wouldnt' put it on the side of the disc that the drive is trying to read from. put the tape on the side with the paint, and make sure you put another piece of the same size directly across from it to balance the weight - a piece of tape may not seam like much, but that wobbling may be the difference between shattering the disc and recovering the data, so just do it.

about what avid was saying about the files not being in one place - he's mostly right, except for sort of not. Think about it - the disc spins, so the data is written/read in rings (tracks) around the disc. the burner starts burning at the center and moves outward.... and because it moves outward from the center, the ring gets larger every time, so for every revolution it can store more data. i'm 98% sure that's a big part of the reason you see cdrw write speeds constantly climb while you're writing a disc (assuming you're using a 48 or 52x or other modern burner).
so if the crack is only like half an inch long, you'd probably be able to get the data off the part where the crack hasnt formed yet. just use some scotch tape to reinforce it and hopefully it won't crack more.

[DeLaguna]

you could also us one of those lable stickers that come with home lableing kits and the rest of my directions as posted..

[Zefram]

I still dont understand why you wanted to read cracked CD. If there was even a hairline crack, i dont think there any chance of you reading those CD........ the optical head even have problem reading CD with deep scratches........

Save your effort and just go buy another new CD. I've seen CD shattering (because the owner ignore the crack) and it cost him his new DVD-RW drives. :p

[chris000001]

do you guys realize this thread is 2 years old?

i highly doubt the starter is still concerned about this cd 2 years later

[Zefram]

do you guys realize this thread is 2 years old?

i highly doubt the starter is still concerned about this cd 2 years later
bloody hell..............

2 years old? That could make wine out of my grape juice!

[Dizzious]

do you guys realize this thread is 2 years old?

i highly doubt the starter is still concerned about this cd 2 years later

wow. never noticed.
but... HOW THE HELL DO ALL THESE ANCIENT THREADS KEEP COMING UP?!
i say threads not stickied should be deleted after like six months. or a year...

[Thanatos]

it seems DeLaguna was the first to post recently did he reserect it or did it just pop up

[NotMyBest2Day]

What I have discovered happens for ancient threads being resurrected (usually I'm the one doing it :p ) is people find it in the results of a Google search. *shrug* I think after six months they should be moved to a read-only archive, that way they can still be accessed and read just like a knowledge-base, but they won't keep coming back.

[Mooro12]

Ok i'm new to this site and i've been trying to fix my cracked CD for months.

this disc means alot to me because it's a Gameshark 2 version 4 for PS2 and you can't get it anymore they are discontinued. PLEASE HELP ME.

[3DGuy]

Save your self the hastle. CD's your very unlikly to be able to fix it. try here

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GAMESHARK-2-THE-1-CHEAT-CODE-SOFTWARE-PS2-GAMES-NEW_W0QQitemZ150029058423QQihZ005QQcategoryZ11319Q QssPageNameZWD2VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PS2-GAMESHARK-2-Game-Shark-Playstation-2-CODES-CHEATS_W0QQitemZ150029091848QQihZ005QQcategoryZ113 19QQssPageNameZWD2VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

£8.70, $15.94

Id pay that becuse trying to do the impossible like fix a cracked cd will drive you nuts. also may break when in use and completly mess up ur console

[DJ yoyo]

Okay, after reading all this, I'm not going to ask how to repair my cracked cd... but can anyone tell me where I can find a copy of the Freespace2 game disc 1?

[Skorp]

...You broke Freespace 2?!

NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!




...also, http://search.ebay.com/freespace-2_W0QQfrppZ50QQfsopZ1QQmaxrecordsreturnedZ300

[TechMD]

i am actually still interested, but have yet to find a solution or suggested solution that work(s/ed). call me anal. i still have the CD. it is not a music CD. i wish it was, i'd likely be able to replace it. i have a healthy music collection, and i spend a bit on buying things i neglected to buy when they were readily available retail. anyways, i can't remember if i tried using tape. i doubt if i would ever try crazy glue. i tried isobuster, but it's no good because the drive(s) i've used thus far don't even recognize the media is present.

thanks anyway...

[yahooadam]

Its not really a good idea to try to read it, Sure, it may go in and not self destruct

but the likely hood of it actually reading is really unlikely, its not worth the risk

learn to take better care of your discs ;)

[TechMD]

it wasn't me. the disc was cheap. never had such an issue before or since...