Suggestions for Rescuing Corrupted Images from DVD?

[mrlynn]

Son let this one kick around unprotected too long. Tried alcohol and water. Other ideas? Software?

/Mr Lynn

[RAMd®d]

A light brushing with toothpaste from the center out to the edge might help.

A gel toothpaste might be less abrasive.

This assume that the disc is scratched and not suffering from any kind of oxidation.

If it's about scratches, radial damage is usually worse than scratches that are perpendicular to the tracks.

[rjmacs]

Sadly, if there's oxidation, you're pretty screwed. That leads to physical separation, which is pretty irreparable if you're not the NSA.

[GGD]

Maybe provide some more details about what he's dealing with.

Does it mount and some files are readable?

Was it a DVD-R, in which case sunlight might have erased, and solutions for scratched disks are unlikely to help.

[mrlynn]

Actually, I think it's a CD-R: 160 MB on it. Most of the files are readable; some are not.

/Mr Lynn

[Racer X]

You might try and use a version of Toast to make an image, and save it to your hard drive. The error correction in Toast might be able to keep rescanning until it reads the data. Also, try reading it in the oldest, slowest optical disk drive you have. I have an old Samsung 12x CD burner that can read most anything.

[neophyte]

From the interwebs...

[kj4btkljv]

These work:

SkipDr DVD and CD Manual Disc Repair System
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015ACUKC

Jeff

[mrlynn]

kj4btkljv wrote:
These work:

SkipDr DVD and CD Manual Disc Repair System
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015ACUKC

Jeff

Given how poorly I did trying to buff out our Subaru headlights, I doubt I'd be any better with this gadget. Maybe tomorrow I'll try the toothpaste trick. Was watching Game 6 of the World Series this evening, so no time left tonight (23-year-old gives up only 3 hits in 7 innings, and throws 100+ mph!).

Went to our old G4 iMac to try the older CD player, but the tray won't come out; could the drive be dead? Worked the last time I tried it, but that was many moons ago.

Don't have Toast. Any other software options?

/Mr Lynn