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Repairing scratched CD


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Is the track "09. Won't grt fooled again" ?

I found MCA Ultimate Master Disc on Usenet.

 

Alex

 

How a Digital Audio file sounds, or a Digital Video file looks, is governed to a large extent by the Power Supply area. All that Identical Checksums gives is the possibility of REGENERATING the file to close to that of the original file.

PROFILE UPDATED 13-11-2020

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Can't believe no one suggested using EAC (Exact Audio Copy). There are others that use its techniques, but EAC can be a miracle worker.

 

http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

 

The worst thing I ever tried was a Beach Boys CD. Someone had dropped it in their car, where it slid underneath a floor mat and was discovered months later. It looked like it was stuck on someone's shoe and walked upon for awhile. Covered with horrid scratches and would not play on any players I had. Nor the burner I had. I used EAC on it, and the software took 11 hours, but recovered everything. There were two short dropouts in the whole CD. This is when computing power was less than now so maybe it would only take a couple hours now. In any case, give this a try before doing any buffing or surface repair.

 

If this is a gold MFSL, be very, very, very, very careful with any surface buffing repair. Those have super thin coatings vs regular CD's. Don't try toothpaste or brasso on CD's. It seems to make more trouble in my experience. I have had some luck with minor surface damage using a Meguiars plastic polish meant for plastic motorcycle, boat and plane windshields.

And always keep in mind: Cognitive biases, like seeing optical illusions are a sign of a normally functioning brain. We all have them, it’s nothing to be ashamed about, but it is something that affects our objective evaluation of reality. 

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Can't believe no one suggested using EAC (Exact Audio Copy). There are others that use its techniques, but EAC can be a miracle worker.

 

The worst thing I ever tried was a Beach Boys CD. Someone had dropped it in their car, where it slid underneath a floor mat and was discovered months later. It looked like it was stuck on someone's shoe and walked upon for awhile. Covered with horrid scratches and would not play on any players I had. Nor the burner I had. I used EAC on it, and the software took 11 hours, but recovered everything. There were two short dropouts in the whole CD. This is when computing power was less than now so maybe it would only take a couple hours now. In any case, give this a try before doing any buffing or surface repair.

 

If this is a gold MFSL, be very, very, very, very careful with any surface buffing repair. Those have super thin coatings vs regular CD's. Don't try toothpaste or brasso on CD's. It seems to make more trouble in my experience. I have had some luck with minor surface damage using a Meguiars plastic polish meant for plastic motorcycle, boat and plane windshields.

 

I agree 100%, and always use E.A.C. Don't forget though to allow E.A.C. to hibernate briefly as per the available settings, if the CD is taking a long time to be ripped at speeds that may go as low as 0.1 times!

I use a hand cranked gadget I bought off ebay several years ago, that has 2 different bottles of fluid to go with it.

Using toothpaste, Brasso etc. can leave a hazy surface ! Many Video Rental stores have special machines where for a small fee they can remove scratches that aren't too deep.

In this case though, being brand new, it is more likely to be a manufacturing defect that shows up with age.

 

Alex

 

How a Digital Audio file sounds, or a Digital Video file looks, is governed to a large extent by the Power Supply area. All that Identical Checksums gives is the possibility of REGENERATING the file to close to that of the original file.

PROFILE UPDATED 13-11-2020

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Is the track "09. Won't grt fooled again" ?

I found MCA Ultimate Master Disc on Usenet.

 

Alex

 

That's really nice of you, Alex.

 

This disc has 16 tracks. The last one is an alternative version of Behind Blue Eyes.

 

Thanks for the kind offer.

 

Joel

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Can't believe no one suggested using EAC (Exact Audio Copy). There are others that use its techniques, but EAC can be a miracle worker.

 

Exact Audio Copy

 

The worst thing I ever tried was a Beach Boys CD. Someone had dropped it in their car, where it slid underneath a floor mat and was discovered months later. It looked like it was stuck on someone's shoe and walked upon for awhile. Covered with horrid scratches and would not play on any players I had. Nor the burner I had. I used EAC on it, and the software took 11 hours, but recovered everything. There were two short dropouts in the whole CD. This is when computing power was less than now so maybe it would only take a couple hours now. In any case, give this a try before doing any buffing or surface repair.

 

If this is a gold MFSL, be very, very, very, very careful with any surface buffing repair. Those have super thin coatings vs regular CD's. Don't try toothpaste or brasso on CD's. It seems to make more trouble in my experience. I have had some luck with minor surface damage using a Meguiars plastic polish meant for plastic motorcycle, boat and plane windshields.

 

Another great suggestion.

 

Thanks for that, esldude.

 

I'll give it a shot.

 

And yes, this is a gold disc so I appreciate the warning.

 

Joel

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I agree 100%, and always use E.A.C. Don't forget though to allow E.A.C. to hibernate briefly as per the available settings, if the CD is taking a long time to be ripped at speeds that may go as low as 0.1 times!

I use a hand cranked gadget I bought off ebay several years ago, that has 2 different bottles of fluid to go with it.

Using toothpaste, Brasso etc. can leave a hazy surface ! Many Video Rental stores have special machines where for a small fee they can remove scratches that aren't too deep.

In this case though, being brand new, it is more likely to be a manufacturing defect that shows up with age.

 

Alex

 

Alex,

 

This disc is likely about 17 years old and out of print.

 

Yet to look at it, you wouldn't think it was nearly that old.

 

Thanks.

 

Joel

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Thanks for the suggestion.

 

I'll look into it.

 

Joel

 

Not to throw cold water on anyone else's helpfulness, but Skip Dr is one of the buffer/polishers with which people have had mixed results. Software interpolators (EAC and/or alfe's links) would be my strong recommendation, probably exclusive of any physical treatment of the disc beyond gentle non-abrasive cleaning (always radial in motion, *never* circular). After all, if you get a refund, that's at least a good portion of the cost of a disc that works, even though it would delay gratification. (I see a couple for $150 on Amazon.)

One never knows, do one? - Fats Waller

The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. - Einstein

Computer, Audirvana -> optical Ethernet to Fitlet3 -> Fibbr Alpha Optical USB -> iFi NEO iDSD DAC -> Apollon Audio 1ET400A Mini (Purifi based) -> Vandersteen 3A Signature.

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I appreciate it, Jud.

 

That's why I asked.

 

I'd hate to end up with a non-returnable disc.

 

Still, finding these discs at a semi-reasonable price is tough.

 

Joel

 

Over the years, I've tried any number of home remedies for scratches in discs, and I must say that I've never had much luck with any of them. That said, the best method I have found is to buy something called "jeweler's rouge". This comes in sticks or in little "pots". The best kit I've seen for "attempting" to rescue a scratched CD/DVD/SACD contains fine buffing wheels for use with a Dremel motor (you can get a couple of really cheap Dremel style motors from Harbor Freight (a cheap, low voltage one for less than $10, of for about twice that, a really decent one with an AC motor and ball bearings) if you live in the USA). A kit like that can be seen in the URL below:

 

Jeweler's polishing kit:

http://tinyurl.com/zq7qsjn.

 

And the Harbor Freight rotary tools:

Search results for: 'Rotary tool kits'

 

When attempting to polish-out those scratches, be gentle, the polystyrene coating over the CD's pits is only a few molecules thick, and once you "burn" through that, you might as well toss the disc! BTW, don't try to buff-out a writable CD, they work on a different principle and can't be repaired by buffing. At best, even this method is a hit-and-miss proposition. Sometimes you can repair the disc, sometimes you can't.

George

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Joel

Please check your PMs

Regards

Alex

 

How a Digital Audio file sounds, or a Digital Video file looks, is governed to a large extent by the Power Supply area. All that Identical Checksums gives is the possibility of REGENERATING the file to close to that of the original file.

PROFILE UPDATED 13-11-2020

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Can't believe no one suggested using EAC (Exact Audio Copy). There are others that use its techniques, but EAC can be a miracle worker.

 

Exact Audio Copy

 

 

I personally just assumed everyone used it - I've never used anything else! Best bit, arguably (other than it being freeware), is that it tells you just how 'exact' your copy is.

 

Never worked out how it does this. I've seen the metadata on the freedb database and it's not exactly expansive. I thought it might work it out by checksum, but then how does it tell you that your copy is only, say, 99.8% accurate?

Front End: Neet Airstream

Digital Processing: Chord Hugo M-Scaler

DAC: Chord Dave

Amplification: Cyrus Mono x300 Signatures

Speakers: Kudos Titan T88

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I personally just assumed everyone used it - I've never used anything else! Best bit, arguably (other than it being freeware), is that it tells you just how 'exact' your copy is.

 

Never worked out how it does this. I've seen the metadata on the freedb database and it's not exactly expansive. I thought it might work it out by checksum, but then how does it tell you that your copy is only, say, 99.8% accurate?

 

A large part of it is just reading whatever little bit it can read over and over and over and over and over again. Until it gets enough to decide what it reads is the correct bits. Maybe it reads 10 times and 8 of those match so it assumes that is the right info. Then sees if it matches up with more and reads again. It simply does this in a reiterative manner until it gets the whole thing. Sometimes it gets a portion and can use the Reed_soloman code to fill in the blanks. It simply keeps doing this until it is done. In a sense it is simple minded and brute force, but it works.

And always keep in mind: Cognitive biases, like seeing optical illusions are a sign of a normally functioning brain. We all have them, it’s nothing to be ashamed about, but it is something that affects our objective evaluation of reality. 

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When attempting to polish-out those scratches, be gentle, the polystyrene coating over the CD's pits is only a few molecules thick, and once you "burn" through that, you might as well toss the disc! BTW, don't try to buff-out a writable CD, they work on a different principle and can't be repaired by buffing. At best, even this method is a hit-and-miss proposition. Sometimes you can repair the disc, sometimes you can't.

 

Polystyrene for extruded discs :)? I'm sure you meant polycarbonate and the thickness is 1,2 +/- 0,3 mm RB specs.

If you have a radial scratch the disc is dead if it's longitudinal there is a chance that interpolation will do the job and that's the purpose of CIRC.

 


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Very interesting, alfe.

 

Have you tried it yourself?

 

Thanks a lot.

 

Joel

 

Yes, you just take the image file burn it to a CD-R and rip it again CIRC will interpolate or fill with silence the corrupted or non recovered infos and that will avoid clicks and pops.

 


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If the various reading trials don't work then a gentle polish is indicated.

Any version of perspex polish should work--Maguiares is good. Be slow and gentle, polish initially over the scratches and as previously indicated only polish from the centre to the edge or reverse, never "around".

I've done this on badly scratched library copies that wouldn't play with some good success.

Please note that the pits are actually on the label side of the disk--only polish the clear side.

 

Greg

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I have a couple CDs that look absolutely perfect but won't rip or play correctly. No player, no ripping software no nothing! It can happen.

 

I also have had a couple discs that XLD on Mac, dBp and EAC on Win wouldn't rip, and iTunes ripped them without noticeable issues. Probably not bit perfect, but no major glitches. Did you try iTunes for that one track?

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@joelha

16 tracks that mean it's long play disc, pits and lands become shorter in the outside of the spiral, the quality of the drive is important in this case.

Which drive are you using?

 

I'm using an LX 16X internal Bluray drive in my desktop PC, alfe.

 

Should I consider trying something else?

 

Thanks a lot.

 

Joel

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If the various reading trials don't work then a gentle polish is indicated.

Any version of perspex polish should work--Maguiares is good. Be slow and gentle, polish initially over the scratches and as previously indicated only polish from the centre to the edge or reverse, never "around".

I've done this on badly scratched library copies that wouldn't play with some good success.

Please note that the pits are actually on the label side of the disk--only polish the clear side.

 

Greg

 

Thanks a lot for the detailed instructions, Greg.

 

Joel

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