Theory on Swap-Disc free bios..

Sounds promising, but being a cheap-ass student I dont know if Id be willing to splash out another £50...

 

That's not where the barcode we're talking about is located. The BCA barcode is on the media layer itself where it's over burned on top of the data. There are no discs that numbers in this region.

GC discs have two barcodes. A general manufacturers one and the BCA one.

I think you're thinking of that other barcode that you see on the bright silver outer hub area. This is the general manufactuers barcode and has nothing to do with the GC or it's protection.

Look about 1/64" of an inch past that, where the light gray burned area of the disc starts. You see that thin darker gray stripe thats about 1/32" of an inch thick that doesn't quite go completely around (there is about a 3/8" gap that stops it from making a complete circle). That's the BCA barcode that the dvd drive is reading.

It might be easier for you to see it if you look at it from the label side and shine a flashlight up through the bottom side of the disc. The BCA barcode appears as a semi-transparent stripe through the label. It also makes it a little easier to see the individual stripes that make it up.

 

Ohh geez my memory is getting bad. I had a picture clear as day in my head of the barcode spanning the inner "unburnable" area (and only running 95% of the circle).

Looking again, I see it is in the data area.

Thanks for the correction.