badly scratched cd

Discussion in 'Audio' started by weekendwa, Apr 9, 2004.

  1. weekendwa

    weekendwa Member

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    I tried to rip a cd to my comp that is badly scratched using dbpowerAMP. every track said couldn't read. Is there a way around this????
     
  2. shiroh

    shiroh Guest

    there is the cd recovery machine. it sprays water on the cd and hopefully it can be read afterwards.

    try eac and cdex, though i doubt it will give the same result.
     
  3. tigre

    tigre Moderator Staff Member

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    What you can do:


    Software

    Exact Audio Copy (secure mode) can detect and correct many errors caused by scratches. A guide for EAC is available at Afterdawn guides (audio) section. If the CD is scratched too badly, it will report uncorrectable errors so you can listen to suspicious positions and apply some deglitch/click removal, e.g. using Adobe Audition (free timelimited trial available). On really bad errors, there might occur skips in secure mode. In such a case it's a good idea to rip in Burst mode aditionally. Burst mode will contain no (or less) skips but there's no error correction performed. Using a wave editor (-> Audition) you can combine both rips manually to get best out of both.

    If you have a Plextor drive, you can try Plextools. Its error correction quality is similar to EAC's and might give better results in some cases.


    Drive

    Try different drives (especially if you use EAC), results depend much on drive's capabilities


    Disc repair

    This only works if the data side is scratched. If there are scratches on the side where the label is printed on, there's only one case where you can do something: If the refective layer is damaged (you can see spots of light through the CD), you can glue some aluminium kitchenfoil on the label side to restore the defect.

    For scratches on the data side, there are several possibilities:

    - Professional disc repair: Remove some unnecessary plastic to get a flat, clear surface again.

    - SkipDoctor http://www.digitalinnovations.com/index.asp
    or similar devices

    - Disc repair sets with fine, finer + finest ;) grinding paper + polish fluid

    - Several household remedies like
    -- "Extra white" toothpaste (containing abrasive minerals) + cotton wool
    -- Car polish + cotton wool
    -- Blow torch to "melt away" scratches


    BEWARE: For most of the "Disc repair" methods I mentioned I've read successful reports but I haven't tried myself. Before you try with a valuable CD try and get some practice with e.g. burned CD-Rs.
    _X_X_X_X_X_[small]AFTERDAWN FORUM RULES: http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/2487[/small]
     
    Last edited: Apr 10, 2004

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