Cracked CD. Won't read in drive. Is there no hope ???

[kwunder]

Hi,
Major disaster. I have 30 years of family memories, in the form of photo's on a CD, which, on getting it out of the case, has just cracked from the center to the outer edge. It tries to read in the frove, but won't. Is there any hope whatsoever of salvaging ANYTHING from this disc. Apart from the straight line crack the rest of the disc is untouched.

In desparation, THANKS

 

[techkiwi]

I doubt it. Your best bet is probably to try a professional data recovery firm.

Good luck ...

 

[jsauce]

How bad and deep is the crack? Does it break the reflective surface of the cd? If you hold it to the light can you see the other side through. Try taking a piece of tin foil and putting on top of the cd right across the crack to the edge as best as you can. Then tape it down with clear tape. Then try again. If that doesn't help I'd agree you are probably screwed.

John D. Saucier
jsauce@magicguild.com
Certified Technician
Network Administrator

 

[BadBigBen]

Might wanna try it with a proggy like ISO-Buster or CDRex...

Ben

PS - other than that, you'll have to pay to get some of the DATA from a professional service or are just plain 'U-S-Creek'...

 

[2cornflakes]

dont know if it would make any difference, but you could also try-either for reading it or with the data recovery programs-using an older slower speed reader.

 

[bcastner]

Trying to read this disk could be hazardous to your health and that of your disk drive. It could quite easily shatter into many pieces.

I think a data recovery firm would be the sanest course of action.

 

[kwunder]

jsauce :- The crack is right through th CD. I mean its cracked right through. I did try clear tape but it still wouldn't read.

badbigben :- I tried iso buster too but it still wouldn't read.

2cornflakes :- Have also tried it on an older PC with slower CD drive - no luck...

Techkiwi / bcastner :- Have mailed Fields Data Recovery and await a reply.

Thanks to you all. I will post back the eventual conclusion if anyone is interested.

Thanks again

 

[BadBigBen]

kwunder - what bcastner mentioned is correct... it can be dangerous and the cd can shatter to bits... so be careful... also if these pictures are that important to you, then going for a Professional Data Recovery Service would be your best answer... but expensive...

Ben

 

[2cornflakes]

I too agree with bcastners comment about the possibility of the cd breaking, there was a thread about that awhile back-one of the reasons i'd mentioned a slower speed drive.

Depending on the amount of additional risk you want to take with the cd yourself, note that you did not try the precise suggestion jsauce gave.

 

[jsauce]

Although its possible to have the disc shatter, Its unlikely that its really very dangerous. The fact is that it requires a great deal of speed to shatter a disc, even when its cracked. It can happen, increased by the fact that it is cracked. However, cdrom drives are built to prevent anything dangerous from coming out of them. The tray of a cdrom drive is not likely to open at the precise time that disc shatters nor will the shattering disc come out the aluminum case of the cdrom drive itself. The worst thing that will happen is the cdrom drive will be riddled with the shattered pieces of the disc and that will likely prevent it from ever working properly again.

Now to the crack going right through the cd, that by itself will not render the disc useless. Remember that the information is stored on the disc but its the reflective surface that the laser uses to read the info off the cd. This is why I suggested using a piece of tinfoil, but really anything highly reflective will work. If you can get the cdrom drive to see the disc in the drive, you may lose the physical information stored right on the area of the crack but be able to read and retrieve all the remaining data from the disc.

John D. Saucier
jsauce@magicguild.com
Certified Technician
Network Administrator

 

[SYAR2003]

You could try download an evaluation copy of this recovery tool an try recover data from the cd .

http://www.jufsoft.com/badcopy/cd_recovery.asp

 

[BadBigBen]

Syar2003 - thanks for the link... it can never hurt having proggies like this at hand...

jsauce - I've seen a disk chatter on downspin while the guy was opening the CDROM, luckily nothing serious happened, few scratches that's all...

Ben

 

[legion2552]

Depending on how bad the crack is, I've used something called T-cut which is like an abrasive polish. It may not be enough if the disk is severly enough crakced, but it may give you a fighting chance... it did for me...

 

[kwunder]

Thanks again guys
The CD is snapped right the way through.

jsauce :- Do you mean I need to put tinfoil over the data side of the disc ?

thanks

 

[2cornflakes]

he's talking about the back side where you made notes about what's on the cd. I think the idea is that with a crack all the way through, the laser sees that and there is nothing behind the plastic where the data is stored for it to reflect from. If you put the tinfoil over the crack on the back side, it might allow the laser to reflect enough off the inside of the back surface that it would think the cd is not broken and allow your programs to read it long enough to get info off.

 

[kwunder]

Tried placing tin foil over the crack, but it still won't read. Don't think there is anything else I can do now. Any other ideas ? BTW, Fields Data Recovery have still not got back to me. I'll have to try elsewhere on that front.

Thanks

 

[mainegeek]

kwunder,
I have previously, with success, used the method that jsauce has mentioned. I used a piece of foil on the crack and then used a blank label from my label maker to hold it
down flat and evenly. Make sure that the foil isn't to big or has folds in it. Too much on one side will cause it to become unstable and it will wobble like crazy.

 

[SYAR2003]

The BadCopy Pro from jusoft didn't work then ......

 

[jznightmare]

it is advisable that you bring the cd to a professional cd copying service and the like. trying to use the cd on your cd rom drive might cause the disk to shatter and damage your cd rom drive.

 

[yada]

These guys are right, you can keep trying until it does shatter beyond hope of recovery or you can send it to a recovery service where they can probaby help you for a couple hundred bucks.